Style giant set to open Perth stores

Swedish fashion giant H&M will open its first WA store in Joondalup this year and plans to have a flagship city store next year.

Buoyed by the success of its Melbourne and Sydney outlets, H&M Australia manager Hans Andersson said its first Perth store would open at the Lakeside Joondalup shopping centre in the second half of this year.

A proposed 4000sqm city store — about 1500sqm bigger than Joondalup — would house its home collection as well as its fashion lines.

The Perth city site was yet to be confirmed and Mr Andersson said “several” Perth malls were also being considered for stores.

H&M has been looking at Perth sites for months but an announcement last month is the first public confirmation of its plans.

“It’s a natural step for us to establish ourselves in Perth after Melbourne and Sydney and we are opening in March in Brisbane, ” Mr Andersson said.

“We would like to follow up in Perth because we know it’s a fashionable market. It’s a lot of young people and young families.”

He said Joondalup’s proximity to the train line, available space and customer mix made it a “very good” fit.

Lakeside became WA’s biggest shopping centre last year after a $320 million expansion.

H&M — short for Hennes & Mauritz — is the world’s second- biggest clothing retailer by sales.

In January, it announced a record profit of 6.22 billion Swedish kronor ($948 million) and plans to open 400 new stores globally.

Its move into WA follows rivals Zara and Topshop.

US homewares heavyweight Pottery Barn is also coming to St Georges Terrace.

The opening of H&M’s Melbourne store last year attracted long queues.

Mr Andersson said the group’s Australian arm had received a “fantastic reception”, with collective turnover of about $70 million despite only being open for part of the financial year.

“So we are very positive for our future operations in Australia, ” he said.