H&M to open in Cebu

Swedish brand has 5 stores in Metro Manila

Global retail brand H&M will expand to Cebu this year.

The store location and opening date will be announced soon, said H&M Hennes & Mauritz, Inc. Philippines public relations manager Danreb Mejia.

“We are very excited to open in Cebu within the year. We understand how fashion-conscious the Cebuanos are and the demand for H&M is increasing, that is why our expansion in Cebu comes at a perfect time,” Mejia said in an email to Cebu Daily News.

He said they were focused at the moment on “hiring the right people to be part of our team in Cebu.”

“We are confident that Cebuanos will love our business concept of offering fashion and quality at the best price in a sustainable way,” he added.

H&M opened in the Philippines in October last year. It now has 5 stores in the country, located in SM Megamall, SM Makati, SM North Edsa, Robinsons Place Manila and Robinsons Magnolia.

The retailer is pursuing an aggressive expansion program as it plans to open around 400 new stores throughout the year. Among the new stores are in Taiwan, Peru and Macau, which opened in February, May and June, respectively. Stores in South Africa and India will also open this year, Mejia said.

“Our global expansion target is to increase the number of stores by around 10-15 percent a year,” he added.

Asked whether H&M plans to open stores in other key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao, Mejia said the brand “works just as well in the major capitals as in small and mid-sized cities around the world.”

“This is one of our strengths and enables us to grow deeply into each market and at the same time expand into new countries,” he added.

H&M started as a women’s wear shop in Västerås, Sweden. It now has six different brands — H&M, COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and & Other Stories — and 3,600 stores in 55 countries, based on its website.

The group also has online markets, which will increase to 22 with the opening of an online shop in Switzerland later this year.