H & M will open a new Tauranga store in April

Swedish fast fashion retailer H & M is opening its fifth kiwi store in Tauranga next year.

The store will open in April at Tauranga Crossing, a $ 150 million shopping mall, located 6 km from the city center, at the junction of State Highway 29, SH36 and Takitimu Drive.

Tauranga Chamber of Commerce general manager Stan Gregec said the announcement sparked a lot of excitement in the city.

"H & M is present in the major cities of the country and is a big international brand.I did not know that they could come to a city as small as Tauranga, but it's great that they see potential for growth here, "said Gregec.

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Steve Lewis, general manager of Tauranga Crossing, said that H & M would be a major asset for the opening of the new shopping center.

"The response from our customers to our development has been fantastic so far and we are already feeling a real enthusiasm for the opening of the second stage in April." We expect significant numbers on the day of the year. opening and are looking forward to welcoming the community into their new mall stores, "said Lewis.

"Their decision to open a store in Tauranga Crossing further strengthens the region's growth and Tauranga Crossing as a destination of choice for retail stores in Plenty Bay."

H & M opened its first store in New Zealand at the Sylvia Park Mall in Auckland in 2016 and now has stores in Britomart, The Crossing in Christchurch and Queensgate in Lower Hutt.

The new store is expected to create about 50 new jobs.

H & M New Zealand sales director Daniel Lattemann said Tauranga's population and economic growth offered encouraging prospects for the company.

"The population growth has been strong in recent years and many people have settled in the area," said Lattemann.

Demand for a wider range of stores and plans for Tauranga Crossing have made the new store viable for H & M, he said.

The head of the economic development agency, Priority 1, Greg Simmonds, said that H & M's decision to open in Tauranga showed the completeness of the city's retail sector. .

"It's fabulous to have a brand as big as this one and associated with the big cities of the world coming to Tauranga," said Simmonds.

"Tauranga has experienced strong population growth over the past five years, supported by unprecedented levels of employment growth and business growth."

Tauranga is the fifth largest city in the country with a population of 128,200 in 2016, an increase of 48,400 from 10 years earlier, surpassing that of Dunedin.

At the time of the opening of his Britomart store in Auckland's Commercial Bay, Hans Andersson, the former national director of H & M New Zealand, said that physical stores remained a priority over e-commerce.

"We want to develop our bricks and mortar before going online, and today, online sales account for less than 10% of our global sales," said Andersson.

H & M said it does not have the immediate intention of opening other stores in the country.