H&M opens at College Mall

More than 400 people waited in line for the grand opening of H&M at College Mall Thursday afternoon.

The new fashion store opened its doors at noon, and customers were lined up outside of the mall as early as 5 a.m.

At the grand opening, the store gave away T-shirts, gift cards and had a DJ playing music to keep customers entertained.

Nathan Elrod, director of marketing and business development for College Mall, said H&M will drive more traffic in the mall.

“One of the things we’ve been trying to do this year is simply bring in new stores that will fit in really well with this market,” Elrod said. “I think H&M is the driving force behind that. It will obviously apply to not only college kids, but the younger demographic as well.”

Elrod said he expects to see an increase in costumer traffic because of the store opening just before the holiday season.

The new store replaced four stores in the mall — Anthony’s Pets LLC and Foot Locker, which were relocated, and Abercrombie & Fitch and Kitchen Collections, which are no longer in the mall.

The store includes collections for ladies, men, young ladies and young men as well as children, according to a press release.

“We have 40,000 plus IU students that are here, and this is kind of their main target,” Elrod said. “H&M is a trendsetter, so I think that will apply especially in the college students.”

Amanda Fong said she waited for more than an hour at H&M.

“It was crazy. I’m glad it mellowed out, but that wait was crazy.” Fong said. “They had really good sales today, and I liked the selection.”

Taylor Oligee, a sophomore at IU came to the store opening because she wanted to see the clothes they offered.

“I thought it was fun, it was different than what we have,” Oligee said. “It’s nicer than what we had before, and they had a good selection.”

Sierra Farber, a senior at Bloomington High School South, said she liked the diverse selection of clothing.

“I thought it was so cool. It was like a party and a club instead of an actual store,” Farber said. “All of the employees were upbeat and enthusiastic. It was really great.”

Follow reporter Alli Friedman on Twitter @allifrie.