H&M Coming to Crabtree, Not Downtown

H&M Coming to Crabtree, Not Downtown

October, 15, 2009 , by Jedidiah

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It has been the wish of many locals to have an H&M come to the Raleigh area. Today, that wish has been granted. The News and Observer is reporting that the Swedish fashion store will open a 21,000 square foot store in Crabtree Valley Mall.

H&M has a strong urban aesthetic that has displaced some of the more traditional looks peddled by other mall shops during the past two decades.  The N&O cites a retail consultant: “Half the people who are now shopping at H&M used to be going to Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle.” But this guy is clueless, H&M has a cache that is fresher and more forward thinking than any of these pedestrian competitors.  H&M will draw an audience well beyond the customers that visit those stores and its influence will certainly be visible on Raleigh’s streets.  Already the neon hipster look that H&M has helped to popularize can be seen on teens and twenty somethings of both sexes. 

Previously downtown retail advocates had hoped for a destination store like H&M to come to Fayetteville Street or some other premium downtown location.  The idea that a store like H&M would draw customers downtown that don’t normally come there.  Alas, the density needed for retail analysts working for big shops like H&M is not there yet.  So Crabtree it is.  This is great news for locals (as well as others across the state that frequent the cheap but fashionable retailer), but the fact that The Downtown Raleigh Alliance talked with the company in 2006 without making a deal is a bad blow to the future of substantial retail in Downtown Raleigh. One of these days we’ll be able to buy a shirt or some socks in the downtown grid, until then we’ll just have to settle for coffee, beer and food.

The addition of H&M to the area is also a substantial step forward for the lack of Men’s Fashion in the Triangle. (I am assuming they will have a men’s section like most of H&M’s across the globe)

Update Originally this post characterized the DRA’s talks with H&M as ongoing, when in fact they were limited to a period of time in 2006.  Their newest wave of retail outreach has just begun.

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  • Devin
    10/15 06:30 AM

    Actually, American Apparel and Urban Outfitters are more responsible for spawning the onslaught of neon that twenty-somethings wear.

  • Jen Jay
    10/15 06:30 AM

    YAY!  ‘bout f’n time.

  • Clay
    10/15 06:40 AM

    That is awesome! I have missed H&M, it will be great to see one here.

  • JP
    10/15 07:11 AM

    Prices are sweet too.

  • tnj
    10/15 07:32 AM

    FREAKIN YAY!!!!!

  • arthurb3
    10/15 07:33 AM

    I will be nice not to have to sift through the junk at Marshall’s to get to the good stuff with the good prices anymore!

  • ROB
    10/15 07:53 AM

    ok but raleigh wont get too many retail downtown until more people move down there. its gonna take at least ten thousand residents dt before stores will feel comfortable opening dt.

  • joebee
    10/15 08:31 AM

    chicken or the egg, rob?

    people are not going to move downtown until there is something there to move for. one of the best parts about living downtown is to live without driving anywhere.

    ie. grocery, retail, eat.

    i think this is a big fail for downtown raleigh not to swing this one. its going to take a large retailer for consumers to say “hey, lets go to H&M. We gotta go downtown because thats the only one around” and many many consumers will follow. also, drawing more retailers and development.

    kindof like an anchor store in a shopping center.

    although, it appears that it was up to H&M to move to crabtree rather than downtown developers.

  • Lee Sartain
    10/15 08:33 AM

    Oh DRA…when will you learn what retail analyst look for, and that it took Charlotte almost 15 years of good downtown renewal to get a Teeter

  • tito
    10/15 08:34 AM

    I agree with ROB. At this point many businesses on Fayetteville St. are closed after 5:00 and/or on the weekends. I assume this is because of low volume during these periods. It would be difficult for a clothing store to operate in that type of environment. At the point where people live downtown in Raleigh like they do in many other big cities we will start to see an influx of this type of retail. Currently downtown Raleigh reminds me more of downtown L.A. which suffers the same “after work dead zone” and thus a majority of the shopping/dining options are away from the downtown area.

  • Jess
    10/15 08:52 AM

    They need to put an Urban Outfitters in Downtown Raleigh! That’s what they did on Ohio State’s campus and it works out great!

  • DaveB
    10/15 08:53 AM

    It’s not chicken or egg, Joebee.


    It is economics. Retailers don’t care about Raleigh’s “efforts.” They want numbers PERIOD.

  • CR
    10/15 09:22 AM

    This would have been cool to have downtown, but I don’t see it as that big of a loss.  As far as spurring development, we might have gotten a couple of smaller retailers and an eatery or two.  A store with cheap shirts isn’t going to make anyone move downtown.  We’re just not there yet.  I live downtown and I am satisfied w/ the progress I’ve seen over the last 10 years.  I’d like to see a grocery store, sure, but it is no big deal to drive to the mall for H&M.

  • Clay
    10/15 09:24 AM

    Ohio State? That is in the middle of Columbus, probably on High St with a huge volume of traffic. Its not like being in downtown Raleigh with only the office people passing by, not the college kids.

  • <<
    10/15 10:22 AM

    Urban Outfitters is renovating the old CVS in downtown Raleigh right now for a new shop.  It’s going to be shitty for the local independent boutiques but reading this makes me realize how well it speaks of our downtown that the numbers that them there rather than to the mall area a few miles down the road.  Raleigh’s downtown could use the extra activity this kind of thing would bring whereas we already have it though. Too bad :(

  • L
    10/15 10:24 AM

    Can I just say that TRULY people would have come downtown in droves SOLELY to visit H&M. And not just people in this area, people from nearby cities as well. I have friends that drive to the next STATE just to visit an H&M store.  A store like that would be crucial to the downtown scene, it’s a darn shame it hasn’t happened yet.

  • Harry Seaward
    10/15 11:17 AM

    h&m is the bee’s knees.  glad raleigh is getting one.

  • ROB
    10/15 11:36 AM

    ok people what your not understanding is that big chain stores like H&M are looking at traffic, numbers, crowds, and right now dt raleigh doesnt have that. right now raleigh is doin well and its dt has come a long way from when i remember. i remember when we didnt have hardly any bars or nightclubs or resturants dt. now we have plenty of all that and eateries but you cant expect raleigh to make a huge step like all of a sudden getting h&m to come dt. thats like getting them to put a cheasecake factory or a target in dt raleigh. we have to build up to getting something like H&M or even a wal mart for that matter in the city center. i dont even see charlotte getting H&M right now downtown. raleigh needs to work on getting some grocery stores and smaller retail dt before you can make a huge step like getting H&M. the H&M in atlanta isnt even in dt so how did you really think raleigh would get it… i dont think so.

  • Drew B
    10/15 11:42 AM

    For the people discussing why this isn’t in downtown, read this recent study done for the DRA on businesses and growth in downtown raleigh. It took me a couple hours, but really opened my eyes about what the people making these sorts of decisions look at/for.

    http://www.godowntownraleigh.com/_files/docs/retailstrategyfinalreport.sept09small.pdf

  • manny c
    10/15 12:09 PM

    there is no need for an american apparel or urban outfitters. they are a way over priced and its like hey come here and be trendy! at least now we will finally have a good store. i wish we would get a uniqlo but i no that wont happen.

  • Sarah
    10/15 12:11 PM

    Drew B.

    That was great!

    I love the definition of a “hipster” and a “Yup-ster.”

    good stuff

  • kg
    10/15 01:19 PM

    pretty funny, yet informative read. 

    hipster/yupster = tyrannosaurus rex/triceratops.

  • smitty
    10/15 01:57 PM

    Buy local, unless its European, then it’s ok.

  • arthurb3
    10/15 02:41 PM

    No if we could just get an Ikea or the like…..

  • arthurb3
    10/15 02:51 PM

    Oh my god! After reading the report that Drew mentions I just found out I am a Yup-ster!!!

  • good lord
    10/15 04:49 PM

    Wow.  Raleigh is getting a great new retail store, and all anyone can do is complain about how it isn’t opening downtown?  How about we just sit back and be happy for RALEIGH for a change?  The people in N/NW Raleigh don’t sit around lamenting when a great new restaurant opens ITB.

  • EE Welch
    10/15 04:54 PM

    So excited about the H&M! Which part of Raleigh it comes to makes no matter to me. I’ll still go DT for the DT things and to Crabtree for the Crabtree things.

    Interesting report, Drew B - very informative!

  • blzebub
    10/15 06:25 PM

    My god.  I need to get a gig in real estate consulting.  You can clean up by strolling into any up-and-coming town, talking to a few people who are “plugged into the scene”, and start throwing around stereotypes with an air of confidence unparalleled by studied social scientists.  So, any mature grown-up who decides to pursue a career while still maintaining a sense of who they are and what they like is a “yupster”.  Marketing segmentation at it’s best!

  • Dan from Detroit
    10/16 12:22 AM

    I’m working for 6 months next to the HQ flagship store here in Sweden.  I love the clothes and I think it will be a great addition to Raleigh.  It’s a cheap and trendy version of the Gap with clothes that I’ll actually wear.  Wish it was headed to a spot walking distance from the crib but I’ll take what I can I guess.

  • bcb
    10/16 08:27 PM

    That report is silly—downtown hipsters and condos can’t make this into a major destination city.  What Raleigh needs is a spark like Ogdenville, Brockville, and North Haverbrook.  One word folks MONORAIL!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEZjzsnPhnw

  • Mark
    10/17 04:34 AM

    1) What local boutiques? Downtown? Ha. The few in Cameron Village ($75 socks) and the 1-2 in North Hills ($300 jeans) not withstanding, cite some examples…

    2) The neon hipster look has been around for a few years already. See skateboard magazines. Also, it’s just a revival from 1982 anyway.

  • mkd0514
    10/18 04:11 AM

    Oh my effing God….totally front page news!!!!!!  H & FRICKIN M IS COMING TO CRABTREE!!!!!!

  • Aaron
    10/19 09:07 PM

    Yes!!! MONORAIL!!!

  • arthurb3
    10/20 02:47 PM

    “downtown” is a relative term. My friend who lives in Brier Creek thinks he is going downtown when he goes to Crabtree Valley Mall.

  • gd
    10/20 04:31 PM

    your friend can think that, but your friend is definitely wrong.

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