Column: H&M opens in College Mall

Finally, it happened.

H&M opened last Thursday.

I hate to sound like a shopping-obsessed girl who loves clothes, but what can I say ­— I am one.

I wasn’t the only one there. It seemed as if all of Bloomington was there, flooding the fast fashion retailer during opening week.

Townies and college women alike paid homage to the opening by grabbing handfuls of clothes and emptying their wallets.

For me, this opening meant two things: better clothing found our city, and I have a feeling the dynamics of College Mall are going to change.

Based on the long lines heading in to the changing rooms and toward the cash register, I can safely say other stores like Francesca’s and Charlotte Russe have met their match.

To quote my roommate, “Wet Seal was dead.”

If anyone was in a last-minute need for something for formal or a date before the store opening, they could’ve rushed over to College Mall. However, they would have been limited to a select few stores.

But now that H&M is open with better trends, quality and prices, I bet College Mall will have more traffic.

Unfortunately, there was one thing lacking.

When I discovered H&M was opening Nov. 14, I realized there was a coincidence.

French designer Isabel Marant released her H&M collection the same day.

I thought, “There is no way that is just a coincidence.

The timing was just too perfect.

However my next thought was, “The average cost of the collection is $100, so there is no way they will have it here.”

I discovered with a sad huff that my second thought was correct.

This is Bloomington, where the average customer is a budgeted college student who will not hand over a $100 for a pair of leather pants, no matter how wonderfully designed they are.

So in the end, here are my thoughts:

Yes, we finally have a mainstreamed store I can afford. However, our market isn’t big enough to support more high profile capsule collections.

All in all though, I am eager to see how College Mall will change with the new addition.

­— audperki@indiana.edu

Follow columnist Audrey Perkins on Twitter @AudreyNLP.