For all those fashion lovers the grand Swedish multinational retail-clothing company, H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) finally opened its doors Oct. 30, at The Outlet Shoppes and Dec. 18, at Cielo Vista Mall.

“At the beginning I wasn’t surprised because I was hearing rumors that they were planning to open a location at Cielo Vista Mall. However I was surprised when they announced two openings and almost at the same time,” senior Miguel Carranza said.

On the day of the grand opening at The Outlet shoppes about 500 people stood in line, according to www.elpasotimes.com.

“I wish I had been in the grand opening, because they were giving $200 gift cards to the first 100 people,” senior Valeria Carlos said.

H&M exists in 55 countries with 3,500 stores. The first store opened on the high street of Vasteras, Sweden in 1947. It is ranked the second largest global clothing retailer, just behind Spain-based Inditex, parent company of ZARA, a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer in Arteixo, Galicia. H&M leads over third largest global clothing retailer, U.S. based GAP Inc.

“I think H&M has a decent clothing line. They have classic and stylish clothes at an affordable price. The quality of the clothing is what grabs my attention the most,” Carranza said.

H&M also helped The Outlet Shoppes with a $6 million addition, according to www.elpasotimes.com.

“We hoped to expand a couple years after the mall opened, in 2007, but the poor national economy in the last several years made it difficult to sign new tenants,” chief executive officer of Horizon Group Properties, Gary Skoien said to www.elpasotimes.com.

Love Culture, a Los Angeles based clothing retailer, will also open its doors for the first time in the mall. Including two other stores, New York & Co., with two locations in El Paso already, and Destination Maternity.

“This center has increased sales every year, except the year the recession started. And this will be a big boost for it. Another two to six stores will be added later,” Skoien told www.elpasotimes.com.

H&M and other stores could open as early as August, but no later than October, a Horizon officer told www.elpasotimes.com.

“With all the news coming out about increasing store locations and adding new ones, I feel lucky to live here, specially for H&M I hope they also increase their locations, it would be nice to have more than two,” Carlos said.

El Paso is in the top two centers among Horizon’s 10 outlet malls in several states, and a strong performer. About half of the outlet mall’s shoppers come from Mexico and other areas outside El Paso. Drawing shopping tourists is one of the keys to success for outlet malls.

“Retail is picking up. It’s getting better throughout our portfolio, and it takes a critical mass of tenants to get a project going. Getting H&M as an anchor was a key to making this expansion happen,” official with CBL and Associates Properties, Phil McNeely told www.elpasonews.com.