OTHER CITIES: 
Dear H&M, Please Come to Vancouver
I'll preface this with a boring fact: I pretty much hate shopping. I'm bad at it. I find it difficult to justify spending more than $20 on an article of clothing and every time I decide my wardrobe needs an upgrade, I end up speed walking through a mall or near-jogging down streets, fists clenched, wondering how people can walk so damn slowly. But there are a few things that make me swoon at the thought of consumerism and one of those is Ikea. The other is H&M.
I first encountered H&M in Amsterdam. It is a chain of clothing stores that originated in Sweden. I don't know what it is about that place but they're on the top of my list of 'Countries with Good Ideas'. The clothing is cheap, and generally fairly fashionable by hipster-on-the-verge-of-mainstream standards. It had been four years since I first set foot in an H&M when I excitedly revisited it very recently in Montreal.
Though the Canadian prices aren't as impressive as their Euro counterparts, the idea is still the same. I'll break it down like this: Old Navy is to The Gap as H&M is to Club Monaco. Sort of. H&M hasn't been in Canada for all that long. Already there are seven stores in Montreal, eight in Toronto and a bunch more are scattered about the mess that is Southern Ontario. Vancouver has gotten absolutely no H&M action. The Straight reported briefly in March that there are plans for a Vancouver store, but further details are tightly under wraps. There's even an online petition to bring it here. If I've learned anything about the power of the internet, it's that online petitions boast huge bureaucratic muscle when it comes to influencing franchise investments. Especially those that are full of spelling errors. And take the style of bad poetry. Excellent.
Until the petition works its magic, I can tide myself over with my recent H&M purchases. One shirt and one pair of pants. Way to shop, champ.
Comments (49)
Recommend This
Tools
Report a Mistake
Add to Delicious
Digg This
Add to Facebook
Bookmark This
Print This
Not sure about the Club Monaco comparison. It's men's, women's, linens, piled up all over a huge store that are inexpensive and the most comfortable and best-looking clothing for any body type you'll find anywhere.
Wyn and I have been blogging about bringing H&M to Vancouver for about a year now. Last H&M purchase was in Boston (belt, 6 shirts, skirt, shorts - all under $100) and nothing will ever beat my $10 bikini.