MUJI SOHO — Local services in New York

Soho is confusing

Let me start first by saying I usually love Muji but I will most likely never go in the Soho store again. I shop at Muji at the Hudson Yard store and the have a mask optional policy for vaccinated people. They had signage sayin mask required but the manager came over and told us very nicely that we can take our mask off if we are vaccinated, as this is the science and a vaccine is a move towards an open world and also the Gov of NY has lifted mask requirement in accordance with the vaccination rate and the CDC. Today I went into Soho store and the same sign is up. I asked the girl at the door if the rule was different for vaccinated people. She literally froze. She said let me check with the manager. There was nobody at the door and no counting people in the store for occupancy numbers. Something they chose to lift.? To be honest either way is ok with me, but since I have followed the rules and alway wore a mask and had a different experience at the Hudson Yards store and also notice that many stores have changed their policies and not their signage yet (as in Hudson Yards Muji). I’d like to know and would prefer not to wear one as I would like the world to return. Also I simply asked the young girl if she could check and stepped to the side. It is not in my interest to have a problem, after all she is just working. However when she went to ask she left the door with quite an attitude. To people who came in actually mentioned it to me. Clearly others would like to take off their mask. The manager a male came over and said to me”We are at capacity “. I told him I wasn’t asking about that I was asking him about mask for vaccinated people. Again nobody had any raised voices, including him at this point. He said quite rudely,”read the sign”. I said “ok I was only asking because Hudson Yards allowed it”. He said we follow CDC guidelines (which is incorrect, as the CDC clearly said vaccinated people do NOT need mask indoors) as Hudson Yards knows. He again said “read the sign”. Some manager. I wonder what he’ll do when Muji goes out of business with that kind of attitude and closes in the east coast as it has in the west. His attitude is a problem and the company’s lack of clarity will damage them. I know I will shove elsewhere, as I know hot to read and follow directions but really do need someone with a massive...

I wish I was a Muji. I wish you were a Muji. I wish everything were Muji.

Just not this Muji.

I give this location a relatively high rating because I love the concept; the brand. But go to the Cooper Square (NoHo) location instead.

I came here primarily to return a rain jacket I had bought the previous day. The person who helped me didn't seem thrilled. Indeed she seemed icy. She unfurled the jacket and inspected it closely for damage; not a great sign of skeptical when I had bought it the day previous. It's never pleasant for someone to act suspicious when you're returning something. It can lead you to feel like you did something wrong, when in fact it's perfectly normal, acceptable, ethical to take something back. (Indeed it is worse to keep something wastefully, and the Muji ethic is about reducing waste). So that's frustrating to me.

The store's like the one in NoHo, with a similar selection. Their products are lovely, from the unbranded / frosted plastic / flowing ink ballpoint pens, to the simple snapping pen case. I bought a few small office supplies of this sort.

It's a real shame that neither this nor the NoHo location have a selection that's appropriate to the local audience. They stock up way too much on their awful clothes and irrelevant bedding, neglecting goods where they could make a much more targeted impact.

If they entered the art supplies market, they would kill it. They would own it. If they started making rulers and triangles and paper, they'd do a fantastic job, delivering beautiful, thoughtful products at great prices. They'd deliver supplies in a way that appeals to the aesthetic interests of artists, rather than present them with a McDonald's-like experience (see Blick).

Muji has great potential but they haven't got the...

This review is specifically for Muji’s SoHo location. The return process and the overall customer service were poor. After reading other Google reviews for this location, sadly I found I’m not the only one who had a bad experience here.

After waiting 20+ minutes in a long line to make a return at the first floor, I was told by the associate at the counter that they cannot process my return, and I must leave the first floor to go downstairs in order to make the return.

I suggested to the associate before heading down that the location should consider having a sign directing customers to go to the appropriate counter to make their returns (to avoid waiting in line, only to be told later on their returns cannot be processed there). To that, she responded rudely and said “I don’t make the rules” and that I can bring it up with her manager directly. It is disappointing to me that an associate that actually works at the location didn't even try engaging her manager but chose to outright shoot down customer feedback on the spot.

I went downstairs as instructed, only to find an empty counter without any staff. I waited for a few more minutes to finally have a staff exit from the staff room to help me with my return.

After this staff (Tammy) processed my return, I brought up my suggestion again to her. Tammy turned out to be a manager of the store, who responded very defensively and coldly by saying “we will not put up any signs. Only store managers can process the return, not the associates.” A customer wouldn’t know this.

It is apparent that management at this location have no interest in improving their return process whatsoever to avoid wasting their customers’ time. They also lacked basic customer...