H&M Opens Flood Gates Downtown

Since a good friend of mine has been physically and mentally preparing herself for the big opening of the H&M flagship store downtown, I thought I’d pass by to give her a moral boost. Obviously, I wasn’t in for the hot cheap deals, mainly because the store was packed like a hot club on a Saturday night.

A DJ booth was set up near the escalators on the entrance floor. A sea of shoppers bubbled left and right, not an inch was spared of retail space. Surprisingly, the clothes are still holding togethers as H&M sales associates continually return clothes other shoppers didn’t want and refolding any misplaced tshirt. It was a cacophony of endless chatter and music.

I scanned the first floor for my friend. This collection is the most fashion forward and most suitable for office wear. I made my way onto the second floor where you can tell the more trendy (and disposable) fashions were grouped together. 20-30 girls lined up to try on their goods, some trying to return some items to sales clerks as they passed by with armloads of clothes to restock.

I see my friend pass by and poke her. She appeared more calm than I had anticipated (H&M has a knack of picking very special people to work their sales floor), and had a brief chat with her.

“It’s been insane since early this morning. I think there were like 500 people waiting outside to get in,” she said. When asked about how the staff was handling the onslaught of customers she replied that they were “on edge” as it appears many customers are ill-mannered, leaving food, drinks, trash all over the store (who does that?? Ill-mannered indeed!), trying everyone’s patience. Usually H&M staffers are bold with their opinions and don’t put up with client shinanigans. Still, from my observations, staffers had it together. We’re momentarily interrupted when a female customer holds up a blue long sleeved tee asking if there are any more in size 6. “If you don’t see anything back there where you got it, we’re sold out,” my friend answered politely. Sold out? On opening day? H&M must love that.

Respecting The Swedes

You would think a retail clerk doesn’t know much about that specific style of sweater and color, or the section it came from and would probably want to shoo away pesky customers on a busy day like this…but you’re wrong. After hearing about the kind of training H&M staffers receive, these little helpers are bonafide fashion gurus. I can safely say that my friend knows more about fashion style and trends than I do. Of course, I can’t say much on exactly how H&M functions within their business, but after hearing hours of what my friend has done over her training, I can safely say that working at H&M is nothing like working in regular fashion retail. And it is because of this fantastic business method that they’ve convinced me that they have set the bar in retail organization and service (among other things).

Other retailers should quake in their booties

St-Catherine looked more crowded than usual, and the beautiful day encouraged loads of shoppers to take to the street to shop. H&M bags are everywhere. I took a glance at Guess, located across the street from H&M and I could see in one of the sales associates’ eyes that she was longing to be on the other side, wanting a piece of that Swedish dream. The store was comparatively empty next to their neighbors. I mean, nobody would line up to shop at Guess.

In essence, H&M is magic. They cooked up the perfect storm, and it has Montreal fans raging. Recession? H&M. Plenty of money? H&M. It’s a win-win situation.

Image credit: The Gazette