H&M opening confirmed

EUROPEAN clothing giant H&M will open a Hobart store in the new year, says Lord Mayor Sue Hickey.

The Swedish fashion retailer, which has more than 4300 stores worldwide, will open in part of the Harris Scarfe/former Fitzgerald’s building in the CBD after it has been refurbished.

Ald Hickey toured the building this week.

“H&M is definitely coming — the handover is somewhere around mid-December for the fitout so it’s going to be [open] early in the new year,” she said.

“It’s a seven-day-a-week operation and two of those days have got double shifts so they’re working around the clock to get it all up to scratch. It’s going to be pretty amazing and I think a lot of Hobartians will love it.”

Ald Hickey described it as a “real coup” for the city.

“It’s one of the signs Hobart is really kicking some goals and after that we’ll probably have to tidy up Collins St a bit, but it will be great for the Collins St traders who have suffered a bit while Harris Scarfe have been out,” she said.

“When we [the council] were arguing to get the renovations approved for the old Fitzgerald’s building, one of the reasons to get the approval done was because of the contract for H&M — they’re so global they’d just move on to somewhere else [if it wasn’t approved].

“The person behind all of this is [Cat and Fiddle owner] Gerard O’Brien — he’s very visionary and could see the potential in Hobart if only we had the great stores and he’s bringing them all to us.”

H&M is yet to confirm the shop will open in Hobart and sources have told the Mercury the company will wait until closer to the opening date to make any official announcement. Mr O’Brien also would not comment.

Development application documents for the building refurbishment submitted to the Hobart City Council last year showed plans for two department stores in the area formerly occupied by the Harris Scarfe store.

Ald Hickey said H&M would be housed in the newer, 1955-built section of the building, with the planning documents showing the new store to be about 3091sq m over two floors.