Hundreds line up for opening of H&M
They came, they lined up — and then they shopped.
Several hundred people showed up early at Hamilton Place mall Thursday morning for the noon grand opening of a new H&M store.
It’s the 504th U.S. outlet for the giant Swedish retailer, which offers fashion-forward clothing for women, men and children at low prices and has about 4,200 stores worldwide in 68 countries.
“I’m going to miss a class for this,” said Savannah Thompson, a freshman at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who was among the first 200 people in line who were given a prize: an H&M Access to Fashion Pass valued between $10 and $300, depending on the shopper’s luck of the draw.
Thompson brought a bag of used clothing to turn in at H&M so it can be recycled. H&M, in return, gives
shoppers a 15 percent discount. Thompson likes H&M’s plan to use only recycled or other sustainably sourced materials in all its products 13 years from now.
“By 2030, they want their whole store line to be like that,” she said. “I think that’s really cool.”
The H&M is located in a 23,000-square-foot space in Hamilton Place on the second floor next to Sears.
“Things we put on our flagship [store] in Manhattan, we also put here,” said Daniel Kulle president, H&M North America, who came to Chattanooga for the event.
He pointed out the store’s Italian tile flooring, a finished ceiling — not ceiling tiles — and an exterior made of stainless steel and gleaming white tile as some of the fittings that give the store an upscale feel.
Kulle also touted H&M’s low prices.
“We have the $4.99 T-shirts, $9.99 jeans for women,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kulle was a walking advertisement for H&M’s premium quality goods — which are still a bargain by company president standards.
He wore a slim-fit Italian wool suit from H&M that retails for about $209, suede leather H&M Chelsea boots for $119 and nowdiscontinued H&M socks that were designed in partnership with the Kenzo fashion house in Paris.
Kulle, a native of Sweden, was hands-on during his Chattanooga visit. He scurried around the store before it opened, rearranging clothing racks, inspecting displays and meeting with workers at the new store, which has about 20 full- and parttime employees.
“The U.S. is our fastest growing [market],” he said. “The U.S. now is one of our biggest countries, with Germany.”
Kulle said H&M has a good relationship with Chattanooga-based CBL Properties, the publiclytraded company that has a portfolio of malls, including Hamilton Place, where CBL has its corporate headquarters.
“We’re so excited to have them here,” said Kim Lyons, Hamilton Place’s marketing director. “We were expecting a big turnout, and Chattanooga did not disappoint.”
The grand opening was festive. Music from a DJ’s turntable blasted through loudspeakers set up outside the store as H&M employees walked along the lines of people. The workers collected bags of used clothing, gave out coupons and prizes and handed out cookies baked specially for the event.
Denecia Rice, a nursing student at Southern Adventist University, sat on the floor in line and studied a pile of schoolwork as she waited for H&M to open.
“I’m going to be here for a while, so I decided to bring some homework and study for a test,” said Rice, a native of Ocala, Fla., who moved to Chattanooga about three years ago and has traveled to Huntsville, Ala., to shop at the H&M there. “I love H&M. It’s nice that they’re finally opening one here.”