After spending four years scouting for the best location, H&M is moving into Pitt Street's Glasshouse centre and will open a three-level, 5000 square metre flagship Sydney boutique mid next year.
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The Swedish fast fashion chain will also introduce American designer Alexander Wang's highly anticipated collaborative collection to the western suburbs when it opens its first NSW store in North Ryde inside the AMP Macquarie Centre on October 16.
"We will have Alexander Wang in Macquarie and Melbourne, so both stores will have them in store in November, which is something that we don't normally do in suburban stores," H&M manager for Australia Hans Andersson said.
The CBD store will stock the full H&M collection including homewares, sportswear and all clothing and accessory ranges for women, men and children. New stock will be dropped into both stores every day and trading hours will be extended in to order to capitalise on commuter foot traffic.
"We deliver the latest fashion but from what I understand the Australian market has been receiving trends one season too late. It has to change; as retailers we have to do better. Especially in a city such as Sydney, which has world-class restaurants, yet the shopping is not up to the same standard," Andersson said.
By the time H&M opens on Pitt Street a plethora of other popular chain stores will also be settling into Sydney, including cosmetics giant Sephora, Japan's Uniqlo and Forever 21 from the US. David Jones' new owners Woolworths have began preparing for the influx of internationally renowned brands by introducing new, more affordable labels to its fashion floors. More are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Since launching in April inside Melbourne's historic GPO building, Andersson said more than 1.7 million people had patronised the first Australian H&M store in less than 20 weeks. On some weekends there is still a 10-minute wait just to enter the store, which has a 1200-person capacity.
However, Andersson and his team are now turning their attention to the Sydney customer, and will be delivering more fashion-forward menswear and workout gear to the Emerald City.
"Sydney's a bit warmer. Sydney is a bit more LA and Melbourne is a bit more New York. Here there is a lot of influence from the water and weather.
"We're really impressed with how well the men's department is doing. Australian men are very fashionable and very brave. Sportswear is big; we'll be looking into expanding that here for sure, as Australians are at the forefront of that trend," he said.
An Australian designer collaboration may also be on the cards ahead of the Sydney launch. However, instead of partnering with an established brand, the chain may look to the next generation of local designers. H&M creative adviser Margarita van den Bosch has mentored fashion students at Melbourne's RMIT University for the past six years.
