Many find H&M;’s chic on the cheap a good fit
While a trendy Swedish retailer whose “cheap chic” clothes drew thousands of shoppers to Orange County on Thursday for the launch of not one, but two, stores in South Coast Plaza, Vanessa Mendoza was waiting at Irvine Spectrum Center for the next one to open today.
No matter that she would be waiting for 22 1/2 hours.
“I’m having my husband bring me a blanket, a sleeping bag, a chair and a book,” said the 25-year-old Santa Ana resident, the first person in a line that hadn’t yet formed for the new H&M; store. “I’ve already got people asking me to save their spots and they’ll bring me coffee in the morning. It’s crazy.”
Crazy is one way to describe the frenzy that H&M; seems to kick up whenever it blows into town.
Known for rushing hot styles into stores before they cool, the Hennes & Mauritz chain made its Southern California debut in Pasadena last year. It now also has stores in Beverly Hills and Arcadia. A seventh Southland store will open next month at Topanga Plaza.
The push into California is part of a much larger expansion that has spread across Europe and is moving into Asia. The first Shanghai store also opened Thursday.
Hennes & Mauritz -- a sort of Ikea for clothing -- has more than 1,300 stores in 27 countries.
Although South Coast Plaza’s reputation wasn’t built on cheap chic, H&M; was the right fit for the center, said Anton Segerstrom, a partner in the family business that owns the mall. In fact it has been wooing the retailer for at least eight years.
“It’s hot fashion,” he said. “We have a collection of retailers that is really unparalleled, arguably, in the world. And it is not defined by price point, it’s defined by design and innovation and creativity.”
The first three stores go to the area’s premier mall owners who for years have been competing for Orange County’s hearts and wallets: the Segerstroms from Costa Mesa and Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren, owner of the Spectrum Center and Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
Mendoza, waiting at the Irvine center, said she first visited H&M; after it opened in New York City in 2000, when it made its U.S. debut. And she was so excited two years ago, when the first California store opened in San Francisco, that she drove eight hours to spend $700.
“I was stoked that they were finally here in California,” said Mendoza, who arrived at Irvine Spectrum Center at 1:30 p.m. Thursday for today’s noon opening.
The H&M; hoopla Thursday came as retailers nationwide released strong sales results for March, getting a boost from warmer weather and an early Easter holiday. Sales at stores open a year or more jumped 5.9%, the strongest monthly gain in 11 months, according to a survey of major retail chains.
But the results could quickly shift, retailers warned. April won’t have the benefit of last year’s later Easter, and temperatures are expected to be much cooler than last year. Some retailers also lowered their sales expectations Thursday for upcoming months.
Certainly shoppers weren’t holding back at South Coast Plaza, the only center where H&M; operates two stores. Fifteen minutes after the larger of the two stores opened, Carissa Reeve, 15, was lugging around 12 dresses, a jacket, a bathing suit, a couple shirts and sunglasses.
All the fuss even drew Henry Segerstrom, father of Anton Segerstrom and managing partner of South Coast Plaza, who roamed the store with his wife. “Did you ever see such pandemonium?” he asked.
Shoppers, many of whom already had sampled an H&M; store elsewhere, said they liked the style of the clothes and the low prices. Stores are replenished daily, sometimes more than once. The company also taps well-known designers to make clothing lines for its stores.
The M by Madonna spring collection included a “naughty secretary” dress for $59.90 and a rhinestone-trimmed “cat suit” for $39.90. Elsewhere in the store, purses went for $19.90, scarves for $6.90 and necklaces for $3.90. Red arrows pointed to opening day half-off specials.
It figures that the Costa Mesa shopping mecca would get Orange County’s first dibs on H&M;, but Irvine Spectrum Center wasn’t pouting about opening a day later.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Irvine Spectrum Center and South Coast Plaza are aligned together in this,” said Nina Robinson, vice president of marketing for Irvine Co. retail properties. “How could we ask for anything more?”
Indeed H&M;’s opening is a coup for the center, which has dramatically reshaped itself since it opened with an emphasis on entertainment in 1995. The tide turned when Nordstrom opened there in 2005, attracting other trendy stores, including Anthropologie, White House/Black Market and Ann Taylor Loft. Target piled on last year.
Since then, it has “evolved into a real shopping destination,” retail strategist Gregory Stoffel said.
The evolution of Orange County shopping centers, however, was the last thing on shoppers minds Thursday as hundreds of teens and young adults held their spots in line while reading, talking on cellphones, typing on computers, playing cards and doing homework.
UC Irvine student Cemone Khan, 19, studied chemistry while she waited as pal Jessica Hoang read “Reveries of a Solitary Walker” by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
The pair arrived Thursday at 3:30 a.m. for the noon opening at South Coast Plaza but were shooed away by a security guard, said Hoang, 19, of Orange, so they headed back to her Honda.
“We’ve just been camping out in my car,” she said.
Eddie Cedeno arrived much later. The 23-year-old student had driven from Long Beach but retreated after taking a look at the line. “It’s out of control,” he said.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Strong retail sales
Year-over-year percentage change in March sales at stores open at least a year
*--* Company % change Nordstrom +15.0% Pacific Sunwear +14.1 Target +12.0 Wet Seal +10.9 J.C. Penney +10.6 Neiman Marcus +10.2 Saks +10.1 Limited Brands +8.0 Gap +6.0 Ross +6.0 Wal-Mart +4.0 Hot Topic +3.4 Federated +2.3 Bebe +0.1 Sharper Image -29.0
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Sources: Times research, company reports, International Council of Shopping Centers
