Japanese lifestyle brand Muji is finally in Mumbai

Even as we dropped by within an hour of it opening, we had already spotted at least five locals flaunting brown paper bags stamped with MUJI, a popular Japanese lifestyle retailer established in 1980 that's now on Indian shores. The first outlet opened yesterday on the third level of Palladium, High Street Phoenix in Lower Parel.

We stepped in the neatly compartmentalised store and felt like Alice in Wonderland, as we waded through sections on comfy-looking men's and women's apparel (made with organic cotton), shoes and accessories, a shelf featuring their iconic Right Angle Socks (shaped at a 90 degree angle like the human foot), a vast range of multi-hued stationery, travel goods, sections on furniture (beads sofa) and upholstery (cuckoo clocks with sensors that don't chime in darkness), home and kitchen ware (bowls made using acacia wood and de-constructed mops) and beauty products (moisturisers and an anti-ageing series).

With prices starting from '190 (for colourful hexagonal pens) to '10,000 (for a comforting bean bag), the store offers about 7,000 products, we were told by an attentive staffer. Here are some of our picks: