muji coming to america!

Muji, the Japanese small-box retailer of high-design, low cost household products, furniture, and other fun stuff, is finally coming to the United States. The company's full name, Mujiriushi Ryohin translates to "no-brand quality products," and indeed, all of Muji's products are unbranded (which, it could be argued, is a brand in and of itself).

According to BusinessWeek:

[Muji's] post-industrial designs tap into the less-is-more esthetic visible in Japan's temple gardens and haiku. Larger Muji outlets carry more than 7,000 products that run the gamut from $4 striped socks to a $1,170 front-loading washer-dryer combo. There's even a line of prefab houses that start at $115,000.

Many of Muji's items also come from recycled materials, such as the cute stuffed bunny pictured here. Muji will have outlets in 35 countries once it opens its 5,000 sq.-foot outlet later this year in--you guessed it--New York City. Stores in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco may follow. Expect to see many SoHo apartments mixing and matching Swedish particle board aesthetic with Japanese Zen.

via BusinessWeek Online