Big crowds are expected on opening day at the Canberra Centre store, with just over 4600 expressing their interest in attending the launch festivities on Facebook.

Canberra marks the 26th store in Australian for the Swedish fashion retailer, which has existing stores across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia, and H&M Australia country manager Hans Andersson said the expansion to Canberra was a, "natural progression".

The 2,700 square metre store sits over two levels, taking over space that formerly housed Dick Smith, L'Occitane and Decjuba in the Canberra Centre. It includes clothing and accessories for men, women, kids and babies, but not a homewares department.

"We had hoped we would have a little bit more space so we could add our 'home' department, I think that would have done well. In order to do that we needed 200 square metres additional," said Mr Andersson.

But Canberra may not miss out on it altogether. H&M has launched freestanding H&M Home stores throughout Europe, and Mr Andersson said, "I'm sure we will add it later".

"I'm quite convinced it will come to Canberra in the future. Also I do hope that we will be able to open up more of other brands in the H&M group".

These include H&M's 'older sibling' fashion store COS, which currently has stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

Mr Andersson said he believed the expression of interest on Facebook for opening day was the biggest they have had for any store opening this year.

"I think [Canberra] is probably the most international city in Australia, and the fact that you have people from all over the world, H&M are probably better known without even having a store in Canberra than they were in other areas," he said.

Just over 60 local recruits have been employed for the Canberra store, who were trained up in Sydney. They will be joined by around 40 staff from other stores around the country for the opening rush, and Mr Andersson said there were plans to add even more staff.

The Canberra store adds to what has been a big year of openings for the fashion chain across Australia and New Zealand, with 14 stores opening during 2017. And sister city Wellington just beat Canberra to the punch - the New Zealand capital's first H&M opened in October this year.