H&M already plans second Tampa store, at WestShore

Trendy clothing giant H&M isn't taking long to open a second location in Tampa.

Sweden-based H&M is starting early-stage work on a new store at WestShore Plaza mall, just a few miles down the road from International Plaza mall, where H&M opened a store last November.

Along with casually hip clothing, H&M specializes in a kind of fashion-forward retailing, taking outfits that may cost several thousand dollars on the runway and reimagining them at under $100 for dresses, jeans or jackets.

H&M tends to make its own brand-name clothes, but also occasionally works with high-end designers such as Versace, which made a custom-designed line of outfits. The tactic attracts crowds of shoppers, and the new H&M store at International Plaza saw hundreds of customers camp out overnight for opening day.

While many retailers such as The Gap and Ann Taylor are moving into smaller locations, or even closing stores, H&M is going in the other direction, opening up big new locations.

The new 20,000-square-foot space at WestShore is a bit smaller than the H&M at International Plaza, but at almost a football field long it is about half the footprint of JCPenney. The store will take over a space between JCPenney and Saks Fifth Avenue now occupied by BCBG, Bebe and Pants Towne.

Officials with the company formally known as Hennes & Mauritz AB declined to comment about the WestShore location, as is typical for H&M. Among retailers, H&M's stance is unusually private about new locations, declining to answer questions even after an "H&M" logo is posted at construction sites.

Opening up another Tampa location is in keeping with H&M's strategy of saturating a market with new stores. For instance, H&M already has 10 locations in the greater Chicago area, three around Dallas, three outside Orlando and five in the Atlanta area.

WestShore officials declined to comment on a new store at WestShore.

However, contractors for H&M recently filed building permits for the project, and while many of the details are left undisclosed, architecture firms are starting to distribute construction blueprints to contractors, sketching out details as small as the location of employee punch clocks in the break room.

The plans even display the signature "H&M" logo in the company's casual brushstroke font, with the New York architecture firm of Kenneth Park in charge of design.

H&M opened 266 stores worldwide last year, bringing its total to about 2,500, and plans 275 new stores during 2012, with the most opening in China, the United States and Britain. Bulgaria, Latvia, Malaysia and Thailand will become new H&M markets.

As for timing of the new WestShore Plaza store, H&M tends to move quickly. At the International Plaza store, it was less than a year between the time H&M contractors filed building permits and the store's opening day.