H&M SoHo Redo: Now A Store With Added Benefits

● The iconic Manhattan unit maintains the flavor of the neighborhood.

H&M last week reopened its 22,000- square-foot store in Manhattan's SoHo featuring the latest clicks-to-bricks bells and whistles to appeal to environmentally minded Gen Z consumers, whom the Swedish giant hopes will vote their interest in circularity at the cash register.

The completely renovated and redesigned unit at 515 Broadway emphasizes experience. It's the exclusive location in H&M's U. S. fleet to offer its new ship to store option, which is also being tested at a number of Chicago units, a spokesman said.

Ship to store, also known as BOPIS ( buy online, pickup in store), has been embraced by bigbox discounters such as Walmart and Target, which are using units for order pickup, realizing cost savings, eliminating shipping fees for customers, who often buy impulse items at the stores. Digital behemoth Amazon last week opened pickup counters at 100 Rite Aid units, eventually expanding to 1,500 different stores throughout the U. S.

There's no charge for H&M's ship-to- store service, the spokesman said, adding that orders arrive at the SoHo unit ready for pickup in three to five business days.

Select pieces from H&M's home collection are displayed residentialstyle in a newly designed lounge concept for shoppers at the SoHo store. Artist Sojourner Truth Parsons was commissioned by H&M to create a mural for the store, which animates the walls of a two- story staircase.

“I wanted to do something that was a nod to the theater and the neighborhood, and dreaming that projects how you're going to be in the world, and how you'll walk through the world,” Truth Parsons said. “I was asked to paint directly on the wall. My paintings are all collages. I said, ‘It doesn't make sense to paint on the wall.'”

H&M agreed with the artist, who said, “It was really fun to work with a team of people. Often as an artist, you're alone in your studio. It's kind of existential. It was fun to have a real job, but I know I couldn't have a [full-time] job.

Asked about the origins of her unusual name, Truth Parsons said, “My mom was pregnant with me when Judy Chicago had a dinner party, and she went. Apparently, I kicked her really hard at her vagina at her place setting.

“My dad is African- Canadian and Mi'kmaq,” she added. “I usually go by SoJo because my mom and dad pronounce my name differently. When you're an artist, and you have a name like that, it's a shame not to use it.”