After years of long lines, Fresno is getting another H&M clothing store

Fashion Fair mall is getting an H&M store, the low-cost, fresh-from-the runway clothing retailer with young customers who don’t mind waiting in long lines.

It’s Fresno’s second location. The first opened at River Park in 2014.

H&M will open this summer in the former Love Culture store, which has its own entrance on the north side of the mall.

The store will employ 20 to 30 workers. At 22,000 square feet, it’s larger than the typical mall store.

The River Park H&M is consistently busy, with long lines forming for the dressing rooms and the cash registers.

“California is our biggest market statewide here in the U.S.,” said H&M spokesman Patrick Shaner. “We’re always on the lookout for new locations and listening to our customer base about what the need is for that.”

Though young women are probably its biggest customers, the store also sells clothing for men, and children ranging from newborn to 14 years old.

The new store is part of many changes coming to Fashion Fair, though management has declined to share details about which other retailers might be opening.

H&M is known as a “fast fashion” retailer. That means it gets new looks – like its $19.99 “super skinny” high-waisted jeans for women or a men’s floral reversible bomber jacket – into its stores much quicker than traditional retailers.

H&M, and competitor Forever 21, often face criticism for creating waste as consumers gobble up new fashions and discard old clothing. In response, H&M started giving customers 15 percent off for donating used clothing, which is either resold in secondhand stores or turned into building insulation.

It also has a line of clothing labeled “conscious,” made from organic and recycled materials.

The Sweden-based retailer has about 80 stores in California.

This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 1:48 PM with the headline "After years of long lines, Fresno is getting another H&M clothing store."