29th May 2023 – (Beijing) Swedish fast fashion brand H&M will close its flagship store in Beijing’s Sanlitun district next month. The store is one of the largest H&M stores in China.
According to a local report on Sunday (28th May), H&M has started informing customers about the closure of the Sanlitun store, which will cease operations on 11th June.
As the 200th store opened by H&M after entering the Chinese market, the Sanlitun flagship store has significant importance to the brand.
The H&M China PR team said that after the closure of the Sanlitun store, the brand will continue to look for suitable locations in Beijing and other cities in China to open new flagship stores.
This is another major strategic adjustment by H&M in China since the closure of its Huaihai Middle Road flagship store in Shanghai in 2022. The Huaihai Middle Road flagship store was the first store H&M opened in China in 2007 and was also the largest store the brand had opened in the Chinese market.
Many fast fashion brands, including Zara, have been adjusting their strategies in the Chinese market in recent years. Zara has closed stores in several cities in China in the past year, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Yantai.
After closing stores in several cities, GAP announced in November 2022 that it would sell its business in theChinese market to Chinese e-commerce company Baoshun. Its subsidiary brand Old Navy has already officially withdrawn from the Chinese market in 2020.
It was reported that the recent trend of frequent store closures by many fast fashion brands may be related to their rental strategies.
An anonymous retail industry insider revealed that in the past, fast fashion brands could sign extremely long leases at lower rental prices. However, due to current market conditions, renewing leases would inevitably require higher rental fees and shorter lease terms. To avoid losing their rental advantages and to have more negotiating power with landlords, some fast fashion brands prefer to close their original stores and then find new locations to open new stores.