On a cold, windy morning in New York's SoHo neighborhood, more than a dozen shoppers stood in line for an hour to be the first warmed by a retailer from the land of the rising sun. On Friday, Muji opened its first U.S. location, a 3,200-square-foot store packed with logo-less, stripped-down kitchenware, bedding and clothing. The big question is not why Muji decided to expand in the U.S. (or whether they have enough beige cardboard speakers to satisfy demand), but what took so long?

Founded in 1980, the company has 320 stores in Japan and 73 worldwide. The movement overseas began in 1991, when Muji opened its first location in London, but until last week the main American spot for buying Muji’s coveted no-frills products was the Museum of Modern Art’s Design store.

Hiroyoshi Azami, president Muji USA, explained why the company has taken its time getting into the American marketplace by inverting one of Sinatra’s signature lines. “I think if we cannot succeed in New York, we can’t succeed in America,“ he said.

The word Muji representatives use to describe the American marketplace is “diversified,” as in: the country is so large and has so many cultures that we will spend years ensuring the business model works throughout Europe before attempting it in the United States.

Since 2004, Muji has opened stores in a number of countries, including Sweden, Italy, China and Spain, and Azami said the expansion has given the company the confidence that it will work in New York. “New York City is the best place to have a business,” he said. “And Muji will be able to meet the lifestyles and individual preferences.”

Concerns over pleasing the allegedly fickle tastes of the American consumer should actually be less of an issue at Muji. The company aims to serve all products to all people. It offers more than 7,000 moderately-priced items in some of its stores—everything from clocks to sandals to luggage to colored pencils, and even the SoHo outpost carries 2,000.

You can find just about anything you need, except for logos. Muji is short for Mujirushi Ryohin, which roughly translates to "no label, quality goods.” The low-key store design reflects that aesthetic with wood floors and basic aluminum fixtures, and the company has always been driven by a principle of reducing waste through limiting production materials and packaging. A pair of bumblebee-striped slippers, for example, comes with a single tag, and starting in 2008, buyers who utilize the cloth “My Bag” on designated nights will get a 15% discount.

Ironically, at a time when corporations are falling over backward to label themselves as Earth-conscious, Azami plays down the 25-plus years of ecological thinking. “We eliminate waste because from the customer’s point-of-view they don’t want heavy packaging,” he says, “but it was not a conscious, intentional focus on environmental issues.”

One  reason for not pounding the green drums may be the company's perception of the American marketplace. Or more precisely, Americans.

Masanobu Furuta, senior managing director at Muji’s parent company, Ryohin Keikaku,said though an interpreter that, in addition to wanting to establish the marketing fundamentals in Europe, there was hesitation over how Muji’s eco-friendly tenets would play in the U.S. since President Bush pulled out of the Kyoto agreements on global warming in 2001.
 
Whether it’s the President’s approval ratings or the increase in hybrid sales, Muji has gotten over its reticence. A 5,000 square-foot store is scheduled to open in the New York Times building sometime in early 2008. Furuta said there could be 10 stores in New York within the next two years, with San Francisco and Los Angeles being the next likely markets, then and on to Seattle and Vancouver.

If the early-adopter design nuts that battled the blustery conditions to eat free bagels and snatch up shoetrees are any indication, Muji is on its way. After all, Ikea didn’t come to the United States until more than 40 years after it was founded. As Furuta watched Japanese camera crews mingle with American shoppers, he laughed and said, “I had it in my mind and expected it to be this way. It’s good.”