Mad for Muji

I've posted before about a lot of the stores in the mall, but for whatever reason, I've never mentioned the one that might be my very most favorite.  Part of the reason I never mentioned it is that I had no idea what the name of the place was.  Here is the entrance :

that could have said "child sweatshop manufactured goods" for all I knew

I finally got around to asking someone for a translation and it turns out that it translates to Mujirushi Ryōhin or rather "no-brand quality goods".  But it's commonly known as just Muji.  It's a pretty popular Japanese chain that began as a supermarket store brand and eventually turned into it's own "no-brand brand" and company.  Full history here.  There is a wide variety of goods, but all have simple designs and plain packaging.  To me, it has a little whiff of Ikea about it.

furniture and bed linens

accessories

office/art supplies

cosmetics

cookware and utensils

I've purchased everything from shoes to makeup remover to silicone pastry molds here.  The prices are good and everything does seem to be high quality.  They have stores all over the world, but it appears there is only a New York flagship one in the US.  They do ship to the US though.  I can't say that they have anything that you can't easily get in the US (some of the Asian snack food maybe) but here in Ota it's not got much competition.