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Monday, Jun. 22, 2009

Fashionable, affordable retailer H&M coming to Modesto mall

Trendy Swedish retailer H&M is coming to the Vintage Faire Mall.

The international brand is known for its fashionable yet affordable women's, men's and children's clothing. The store is set to open in November just in time for the holiday shopping season, said Janice Curtin, Vintage Faire senior manager of marketing.

H&M sells "fast fashion," quickly-created, affordably-priced collections based on the most recent runway fashion trends from high-end designers. In 2007 pop megastar Madonna created a collection of clothing and appeared in ads for the retailer.

Curtin said H&M continually tops shoppers' wish lists when asked what stores they would like to see come to the mall.

"This is one of the hottest retailers out there right now," Curtin said. "It's pretty exciting. The mall has been making a lot of changes. Retailers are seeing that this market is a strong market."

Established in 1947, H&M has more than 1,800 stores in 34 countries. The Modesto location would be its 12th in Northern California and only the second in the San Joaquin Valley. It's other Central California location is in Roseville.

The retailer would take up the entire lower north crescent of Center Court, across from what is now Gottschalks and will soon be a greatly-expanded Forever 21.

The planned 20,000-store would go into the space previously occupied by the Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Limited Too and a portion of Wet Seal.

Wet Seal has already moved and the Foot Lockers stores in the process of moving to new spots. Limited Too, a tween-focused offshoot of women's clothing retailer The Limited, will close.

"It's like putting this giant puzzle together to accommodate who wants to be here and what shops are asking for," Curtin said.

The H&M addition will be one of the centerpieces around a revitalized Center Court, which will be anchored by Forever 21's takeover of the 150,000-square-foot space Gottschalks space. Both stores attract the desirable 25-34 year-old demographic with fast, cheap, fashionable offerings.

"It's exciting to be a part of the reinvention of the department store model," Curtin said.