Shop Well: H&M Arrives

Yesterday, March 11th, 2010, Tel Aviv (and all of Israel, for that matter) got its first-ever H&M store. My boyfriend is involved in the company, so I was there. At 11:00 a.m., the ribbon was cut and mayhem erupted, as people at the front of the line were literally falling over one another to get their hands on the clothes. One H&M employee was hit in the face as the crowds rushed through the entrance; another scrambled to help a woman move her stroller swiftly out of the oncoming foot traffic. Why anyone would bring a tiny baby or toddler into an environment like this is beyond me.

Besides the general fighting over garments, here are some of the oddities I observed:
1. A woman plowing people down with a double stroller that held her twins.
2. Someone walking around with a bag over her head, so as not to be photographed.
3. A woman breastfeeding in the children's section.


Totally overwhelmed by the crowd's behavior, I took the afternoon off, but made it back at 9 p.m. to see the shop close. The scene was a clothing graveyard. The store, which had looked so pristine and beautiful two evenings earlier at the VIP party, appeared to have hosted a ransacked "going out of business" sale, not an opening day. Hangers were strewn across the floor; clothes were piled upon display tables or littered in aisles; the selections of clothes on racks were entirely mismatched and misplaced. Lingerie could be found on the opposite end of the store in the children's section and vice versa. Employees informed me that four people had lost their pants in the mayhem, one had lost her dress, and one had lost her baby, who was found, eventually, sleeping peacefully in a corner.

The store, which was supposed to close at 10 p.m., stayed open until nearly eleven, in order to accomodate the continuing stream of people. When the gate finally had to closed, employees and CEOs alike stood in the entrance and created a human shield against individuals who were still trying to sweet talk or argue their way inside.

www.hm.com/il