High-street fashion titan H&M is making a flashy return to their old Shanghai store with a new brand experience: the House of H&M.
The Huaihai Road location is significant for H&M as it was their first mainland China store when they opened back in 2007. The store closed in 2022 amidst controversy over the use of Xinjiang cotton in its products and a backlash of boycotts by Chinese consumers.
But H&M are back on form. The revamped 3,000-square-meter space will act as more than just retail floors. They’re adding an H&M&Café and H&M Flower Shop to introduce lifestyle elements to the shopping experience.
As well as the above, there’s also the H&M Live-Streaming Studio where the brand will host everyone from fashion icons to designers and KOLs for events, and an exhibition space to serve as the brand’s cultural hub.
H&M’s China CEO, Saed El-Achkar, said on Rednote that the “House of H&M is a real brand centre, it combines fashion, inspiration and retail in one, breaking boundaries,”.
To boost the store’s digital presence, they’ve also launched the House of H&M account on Douyin where we’ll surely be seeing the fruits of the new live-streaming studio.
The opening of ‘lifestyle stores’ and ‘brand experiences’ follows a trend both global and China-specific. With the rise of online shopping, brands have had to find new uses for their physical stores. Lifestyle options like cafes and event spaces have proved an effective way to boost brand profile and get customers through the doors.
For parallels, consider Zara’s Nanjing flagship store. It also boasts a café and a ‘fit check’ studio for content creation. There’s also Arc’teryx’s Beijing Arc’lounge. And for one last example, Lane Crawford’s China flagship, which happens to share Shanghai’s busy Huaihai Road with the new House of H&M.
