The first Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) store opening in Romania on Friday morning attracted around 1,000 people to AFI Palace Cotroceni, the shopping center in Bucharest where the retailer chose to set up its first store in the country. This was the first of a series of five store openings set to happen until mid-April. H&M representatives have said Romania is actually the first country where it will open eight units within one year.

People have been queuing all day on Friday, starting early in the morning until late at night to get into the newly 1,700 sqm store in AFI Palace Cotroceni. The retailer had to hire bodyguards to handle the expected crowd, while the store's staff – normally 60 people - had to be  increased with employees from other countries where H&M is active. While some of the buyers were curious to see what will H&M offer in Romania and eventually buy something from the store, others came to get one of the 100 coupons worth RON 80 each that H&M offered for the first 100 buyers.

The store opening on Friday increased the traffic in AFI Palace Cotroceni and some of the retailers running stores near the two-floored H&M unit took advantage of it. They offered discounts varying between 30 and 50 percent for products similar to those offered by H&M at promotional prices and managed to attract some of the buyers who were not patient enough to queue in front of the H&M store.

The next H&M opening in Romania will follow only a day apart from the first. The store in Unirea Shopping Center downtown Bucharest is scheduled to open on Saturday, when even more buyers are expected to crowd. The series of store openings will continue with Baneasa Shopping City, on March 31, Bucuresti Mall, on April 8, and Plaza Romania, mid-April. The retailer will thus cover the major shopping centers in Bucharest, within a short time frame. Outside Bucharest, H&M plans to open stores in Iulius Mall’s unit in Cluj – Napoca, Iasi and Timisoara, as well as in Brasov.

Check out prices for the H&M products in its Romanian stores on their website here (prices in RON).

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Corina Saceanu, romania-insider.com)