The biggest fashion holdout in the Philippines, H&M, has announced it will open its first store in the country on Oct. 17 at SM Mega Fashion Hall, from 9 a.m. to midnight.
The news of the long-awaited opening is expected to thrill fans of the Swedish fast-fashion giant, after years of rumors that it will come into the country, and several months more of delays for the opening because, as the official statement goes, “the company just wants everything to be perfect.”
The Philippines will be the 55th market of the global giant, and its first three-level store in SM Megamall is approximately 3,000 square meters. Its opening will coincide with the rollout of the Fall-Winter 2014 collection and the limited H&M Studio line.
Diverse styles
Karl-Johan Persson, the 39-year-old chief executive of H&M and grandson of the founder, said the company’s expansion team has been looking into the country for several years.
“We open 350-plus stores a year. It’s hard work to find good locations, good rent deals and good people,” he told Filipino journalists in Stockholm. “We expand in a way where we can
draw quality, if not, we wait. A new country is more work than just opening a new store in Sweden or any of our old markets. We can only handle a few markets a year. We have a business model that works globally, and we hope it also works in the Philippines.”
Persson said H&M has already seen the interest of Filipinos on the brand, based on social media and other analyses.
“We offer a diversity of styles at a good quality and a good price,” he said. “We think we can offer a lot to different people in the Philippines.”
H&M Philippines will offer the entire fashion product line. (Related stories in coming issues of Inquirer Lifestyle.)
“We could expand quicker if we team up and if we do franchises, but we prefer a long-term view,” Persson said. “It’s costing us a little bit more now but it’s what we believe in. We still have a good pace. It has never been a drive for us to be the biggest company in the world. We think about the cost of the offering and improve that all the time, to have great design, quality and sustainability, and good shopping experience. Those are what we pour our energy on.”
While it will open its second H&M store in SM Makati, Persson said the deal isn’t exclusive to SM Malls. A third store will be in Robinsons Magnolia.
Best price
Persson’s grandfather, Erling Persson, started the company in 1947 in Vasteras, Sweden, following a trip to the United States where he saw stores selling women’s clothes at a low price. 
Hennes (or “hers” in Swedish) was what Erling Persson called his store, with a business concept that’s still followed in the company today: “Fashion and quality at the best price.” He started expanding in the 1960s, acquiring a hunting and fishing gear store called Mauritz Widforss. He incorporated the name “Mauritz” to become Hennes & Mauritz, and since shortened to H&M.
At the time, there was a big textile industry in Sweden, long before the now global and publicly listed brand began outsourcing its production in countries like China and Bangladesh.
Each year, H&M grows its stores 10-15 percent, opening 375 stores in 2014 alone. It has 116,000 employees worldwide, plus about 100 more for the first Philippine store.