Kelly Driscoll plans business trips and vacations around visits to H&M because it has long been her only way to get the affordable, trendy clothes she adores. Friends also bring her back things when they travel.
Driscoll’s shopping will finally get easier with Friday’s opening of South Florida’s first H&M store, in Palm Beach Gardens. The arrival is a milestone for many of the cultlike fans of the Swedish fast-fashion retailer.
It also could be the beginning of a South Florida rollout for H&M.
“We would love to be in Miami in the near future,” said Nicole Christie, H&M’s U.S. spokeswoman. “We do consider South Florida as an ideal regional market for our brand. We think the customers would respond to our offering.”
That was evident by the almost 1,000 people waiting in line at The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens at noon Friday when H&M began escorting customers into the two-level, 20,000-square-foot store, which sells items for men, women and children.
Driscoll couldn’t get out of work to attend the grand opening, but she has made a shopping list and plans to make the nearly two-hour trek on Sunday from her west Miami-Dade home.
By the time she’s finished, she expects to spend between $200 and $300. Given H&M’s reputation for affordable fashion, Driscoll should walk out with multiple bags.
“You would be surprised how much you can get there for like nothing,” said Driscoll, 25, an administrative assistant at Norwegian Cruise Line. “I’m crazy over H&M. It’s a sophisticated style. You can dress it up or dress it down. You can make it sexy or you can make it appropriate for work.”
South Florida fans have started at least five Facebook pages, professing their love for the brand and begging the retailer to open a store in Miami.
Fans began lining up at 5:30 a.m. Friday outside the Palm Beach Gardens store.
Maria Da Silva, 16, Amanda Williams, 15, and their two friends left Homestead at 11:45 p.m. Thursday and arrived in Palm Beach Gardens around 1 a.m.
“We slept in the car,” Da Silva said, noting that she was lucky that her parents let her out of school Friday to attend the event. It’s not the first time she’s made a trek for H&M. She drove to Orlando last year for Black Friday to visit what were then the first two H&M stores in the state.
Alonso Gustavo, 23, and Oscar Arevalo, 33, also drove up from Miami at 5 a.m. Friday to secure a spot as one of the first 250 in line who would receive scratch-off tickets for discounts in the store. When they were handed their tickets – each for $25 – they started to cheer.
“Any discount you get to this store is worth cheering for,” Gustavo said. “It’s H&M! We’ve been praying for it to come here.”
The men are glad the store is in Palm Beach County instead of Miami. “I don’t want people in my area to have the same clothes as me,” Gustavo said.
H&M has been scouting for potential locations in Miami-Dade County for about five years. Local real estate sources say negotiations have heated up in the past year, with the focus on Lincoln Road, Aventura Mall and Dadeland Mall.
“We look forward to working with H&M in South Florida as they continue to grow,” said Jackie Soffer of Turnberry Associates, which owns Aventura Mall.
H&M has been in the U.S. since 2000 and has 205 stores.
The reason it has taken so long to make a deal in Miami-Dade County is that H&M wants to enter the market’s top malls or retail shopping districts where 20,000-square-foot vacancies are scarce. And when they are available the rents tend to give retailers sticker shock.
“It’s only a matter of time,” said Michael Comras, a Miami Beach-based retail real estate broker. “Ultimately, I think they’ll land at Dadeland, South Beach and Aventura. When you’re trying to get all prime locations, it’s a challenge.”
The Palm Beach Post contributed to this report.
