Tuesday, July 2, 2013

UPDATE: Northlake Mall working on H&M store location

It looks like H&M, the Swedish fast-fashion retailer, could soon have another location in Charlotte.

Work is currently underway on the former Borders bookstore at Northlake Mall, a colleague reports to me. Workers have said that an H&M will go into the location.

County building permit records show a project called "H & M Northlake" was created on June 17, with a status of pending. Tellingly, the building permits list store R206 as the location for the new H&M Northlake project. That unit is the former Borders store.

And an apparent fan posted on Northlake's Facebook page last month: "H&M @ Northlake Mall coming soon!!!!!! EXCITED!!!♥♥♥" The post hasn't been removed.

On Tuesday, Northlake Mall's general manager Phil Morosco wouldn't confirm that the retailer is definitely coming to the north Charlotte mall. But he strongly hinted that a store is in the works.

"Nothing is completed yet," he said. "We're hoping to work something out to bring them to Northlake."

Morosco said he hoped to have more information to share soon. An H&M representative couldn't immediately be reached.

In May, H&M announced its first location in Charlotte, a 17,000-square-foot store at Carolina Place mall. The store is slated to open this fall.

H&M has over 2,900 locations worldwide, including two in Raleigh and one in Winston-Salem.

Northlake is owned by Taubman Centers, a national mall company. The 1 million-square-foot, two-level mall opened in 2005.


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9 comments:

Unknown said...

You have reported quite a few stories on H&M and honestly, none of them have been true.

Can you wait until you receive an official PRESS RELEASE from H&M before blabbering off at the mouth?

You are starting to become a NON credible source.

Ely Portillo said...

Hi Richard. Thanks for reading the blog. I think you're referring to an earlier post that said an H&M might be going to SouthPark. That hasn't come to pass yet, but we'll see if it does. Again, thanks for coming to check out the blog.
Ely

Unknown said...

I used to work at Northlake Mall. If you ever want to know what new stores are opening soon, just ask around at the other stores. The employees that have been there a while will usually have some good info. We knew about the Apple store long before it was officially announced or even mentioned here on your blog. I got most of my info from the UPS guys. They knew everything that was going on there.

Keep up the good work, I really like this blog.

ScottCLT said...

Eli - Do you know the square footage of the former Borders space? I was a bit disappointed in the small size (relative to other H&Ms) of the store at Carolina Place. It's smaller than the ones in Raleigh (21,000 sqft) and Winston Salem (20,000).

John said...

According to the sales people at Brooks Brothers, it's definately an H&M going into the former Borders location. Also, the Subway and Maki of Japan in the food court, beside the interior entrance to the former Borders have also been closed. With the inclusion of these two locations, it should be a nice sized H&M

Korie D. Rose said...

Earlier this year when there was rumor about the now open second Raleigh H&M Triangle Town Center management gave a similar answer and not long after that the standard H&M baracade went up.

Ely Portillo said...

Hi ScottCLT, sorry for the late reply. According to building permits, the Borders space is a bit under 26,000 square feet. But, interestingly, I saw a permit that notes the plan is to "Re-demise spaces FC204, FC205 and R206 into a single retail space. Removing all interior partitions, existing equipment, furnishings, electrical panels, HVAC system, mechanical rooftop units and plumbing fixtures. Providing a warm dark shell." (The 'warm dark shell' part is in the permit, which is weird). That supports John's comment that the Subway and Maki will be rolled into this store, which would make it a pretty nice-sized space. Maybe a bit smaller than 30,000 sf. Also, I have heard that the reason H&M hasn't gone to SouthPark yet is because they haven't found a single space big enough.

Korie D. Rose said...

The mall has confirmed the opening on H&M it's on Taubman Centers leasing information for the mall. It states H&M among stores coming soon on it's press kit.

Ely Portillo said...

You're correct, Korie. Here's what the leasing info now says: "New retailers include Chico’s,
White House | Black Market,
and H&M."

Here's the leasing info.