I’d guess that most people aren’t especially excited about Thursdays. Sure, it’s not Monday, but it’s not Friday and most of the time I am also indifferent about a Thursday.. but Thursday August 2, 2018 was the grand opening of the H&M at the Fashion Outlets of Niagara and it wasn’t just your ordinary Thursday!

One of the local marketing groups reached out to a select group of WNY bloggers and influencers to come 2 hours before the official opening of the new store at noon, to check it out and shop around. They supplied us with a gift card and discount card, making the offer difficult to refuse! I’ve become a loyal Old Navy, TJ Maxx and Amazon customer, so I was also interested in exploring H&M just to see how they have or haven’t changed since ~2012. After all, isn’t every news article claiming malls are on their way out?

First Impressions:

• They picked a great location in the Niagara Outlets, the store is in the newest wing super close to Forever 21. H&M knows their audience.
• IT’S SO CLEAN. Going into an untouched and undisturbed retail store, when you have worked in the chaotic, high energy overwhelming industry, is especially impressive. The group of us who were invited to the store early had the chance to duck under the red ribbon, dive into all of the racks and see how flawlessly organized and impeccably marketed the store can really be.
• H&M knows how to keep up with trends. The semi off the shoulder tops, wide legged jumpsuits and flowy pieces were plentiful. I appreciated this part about fast cheap fashion in highschool, stores like H&M make it easy to keep up

Second Impressions:

• I’m too big for nearly half of their clothing. I felt this way in highschool, 50 pound ago, and the same holds true today. The difference is that I am much more similarly sized to the average American woman now, so what the hell is that about? I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to work with H&M and the Fashion Outlets, but it would be dishonest to not acknowledge that a majority of the bottoms in this location only went up to a size 10 when your girl is a comfortable 14. Also worth noting that one of my best friends wears a size 4-6 and was grabbing 8-10s.
• They have expanded their target market and are catering to more styles than I remember! The business casual area was a pleasant surprise with multiple midi dresses and dressy flats/sandals. I immediately think of H&M as catering to a youthful festival attending/boho audience so this rather unexpected. With companies like The Limited eliminating brick and mortar locations it’s great to find other options!
• This particular location has an entire room just for their sale section. $2 dress pants, $5 rompers and $8 sweaters were plentiful. There were a lot of unique pieces, perfect for dressing up at a drastic discount. Take the time to rifle through this room with deals for anyone (they carry clothes for men, women and children), as they can really cater to people on a budget.

I left the store with 2 jackets, 1 pair of dress capris, 3 sweaters and 1 tank for $120 today. I’ll be honest, I didn’t stick to the sale section, I went with what grabbed my attention the most and what I thought I would get the most use out of! I am completely aware of how impulsive I can be in a less expensive store, in highschool I blew every paycheck I had on fast fashion. I feel that thinking through my purchases now is a sign of growth. H&M is a great store for basics and versatile pieces, that’s how I would describe everything I bought! Check out my instagram story for my first ever unveiling of my purchases -and don’t judge too harshly it’s so ~awk~ to talk to the mirror in 10 second increments 🙂

*Thank you to Fashion Outlets of Niagara and H&M for sponsoring my instagram posts. As always my opinions are my own and not influenced by sponsorship. For more information on collaborating click the Work With Me tab or email me at clearingpreppysname@gmail.com.