Please, Sweden, Seattlest Needs a New Shirt

Seattlest is too cool for the Gap and too busy for thrift. How's a thirty-something guy to dress himself, then? We handle it by wearing the same two pairs of jeans and the same four shirts in different configurations every day. Then, once a year, when we're in Chicago to visit family and friends we make a point to get to H&M downtown to replace two of our shirts. Right now we're kind of hurting--the last visit to Chicago happened to be in February when it was a billion below. We were on Michigan Avenue, even, but couldn't make it the last few blocks to H&M. It was like being turned back from the summit of Everest with only a hundred feet or so to go: we could have gotten our two shirts but we would have sacrificed a few fingers or toes to frostbite for them. If you're not familiar with H&M they're like the Ikea of clothing. Aside from also being Swedish, they sell stylish (arguably), cheaply manufactured (arguably) clothes for reasonable (unarguably) prices. You can look reasonably well-dressed if you outfit yourself head to toe there, and, ok, it is a little like Urban Outfitters but you'll be a lot less cheesy, a little more Euro and will be enfattening the wallet of some faceless Swedes instead of that right-wing guy who owns Urban Outfitters. The first time we went into an H&M we were in Berlin where they were on almost every single corner, like Starbucks or something. It was paradise. We buy our underwear there, and almost exclusively there. We need a fifth shirt, badly, to round out the work week. It's been a while and we're getting desperate, which is why this wholly unsubstantiated, but entirely believable rumor has us so excited:

hi- i heard a rumor this weekend that h&m is opening a store in the university village. i went to h&m's website and i cannot find ANYTHING on it... ?

Oh please let that be true.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@seattlest.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Dan in Miscellaneous on April 24, 2007 11:52 AM

Comments [rss]

mirror

it will be a mixed blessing if it happens. nice that it's so close. bad that soon everyone will shop there, rendering it as useless as urban outfitters is soon becoming. i kind of like the adventure of finding random h&m's on vacations to the east coast or europe and stocking up every once in a while...

Shopaholic

Heard the H&M in UVillage is going in the A&F location (I guess they are moving out...)

Mary Beth

Nothing official, but I've actually been hearing rumors of an H&M coming into a re-modeled Northgate Mall. Downtown would be better, but I'll take N-Gate. Target and H&M in one fell shopping swoop!

Frank

I'm intrigued. I would love it if H&M came to Seattle in regards to UVillage, maybe that area that is being built over Blue C Sushi?

sophie

oh oh oh! im so glad you posted this because i have been doing a little research on this myself lately.

im moving to vancouver in august so i was looking to get my h+m on there (im a fan of h+m madrid and paris). but there are none. except there were rumors on the street that a store was opening soon-- several locations were mentioned.

because im such the sleuth i checked h+m careers to see where they were hiring. --one vancouverite told me that h+m is really sketchy about disclosing any information but i snuck it out of their career site because they were looking for managers. then i emailed the mall administration and was informed that h+m will be opening in early september with no set date yet.

if there is no seattle store, coquitlam centre in greater vancouver will be seattles closest. seriously its only a three hour drive. totally worth it. lucky for me i'll be up north bathing in h+m clothing.

so far no info on the h+m side of things for seattle. http://www.hm.com/us/workingathm/newlocations__worknewlocations.nhtml

i have a contact at barneys so i'll ask. keep us updated, please.

LarryB

Hey, in Seattle, fleece is formal. Who needs H&M when we've got REI?

christofair

i, too, have been hearing these rumors. i have never known this town to be so gossipy! but i have known this town to greatly lack in the fashion sense - is that reason enough to get passed over by h&m?

jenna

i agree; i go home twice a year, save my money betwee trips and then make my biannual journey to San Francisco to H&M.

however, i heard like six months ago that TWO H&Ms were opening in Seattle -- one in U-Village and one downtown where Barney's (maybe) used to be. I've spent hours googling every possible word configuration i could think of to find more details on this, but nothing.

so don't pee your pants just yet.

Naomi

Well other than almost peeing my pants out excitement...I did some research and heard that they are thinking of tearing down the key bank. Could that be the future H & M???