Report: H&M to open 225 stores this year

Stockholm, Sweden H&M reported that it is on track to open 225 stores this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The chain’s new fleet of stores supports H&M’s plan to expand its global footprint. The chain is opening five or six new locations in China this year, with the first H&M store to open in Beijing on Thursday, the article said. The new store makes H&M the first major foreign retailer to open a store in the city’s renovated Qianmen strip, an area dominated by local and state-owned enterprises.

The company will also open locations in key markets such as the Middle East and Japan. Looking ahead to 2010, the company will open its first store in South Korea.

As of February, H&M operated over 1,748 stores.