H&M’s new store gets a name

Last week Swedish fashion retailer H&M announced that it ‘will be launching a completely new store chain’ next year, and Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter is reporting that the store will be called, ‘& Other Stories’.

Even though H&M were very secretive about the new venture in the Company’s interim financial results, which only confirmed that the first stores would open in Europe in spring 2013, and that it would be ‘like COS’, according to the Swedish newspaper, H&M registered trademarks and logos for ‘& Other Stories’ in 2011 and has appointed agents to acquire the rights around the world.

H&M have still not confirmed that ‘& Other Stories’ will be the branded of the new store, however the newspaper has reported that its data was confirmed with H&M’s press officer Camilla Emilsson Falk who added further details about the new venture: “We see the new chain as a complement to H&M. It will be at a slightly higher price bracket and with a little better quality, but still stay within the framework of our business concept - fashion and quality at the best price.”

The new brand is expected to have a further reach than COS as it has trademark protection across other areas including hair care products, bedding, table cloths, and sports equipment.

The name hasn’t been met with much positivity, the Huffington Post commented, “Beginning any sentence, much less a store name, with an ampersand is a bit confusing, not to mention very un-SEO friendly. Plus it lacks the quippy succinctness of ‘H&M’.”

American blog, Fashionista added, “We kinda hope it’s not the name. “Oh, this? I got this at & Other Stories!” or “I’ve been dying to buy that dress from & Other Stories,” doesn’t quite roll of the tongue.”

Confirmation on what the stores will look like or where the first store will launch has still not been announced. There is however an assumption that H&M will follow the same template as it did with COS, which first launched in the UK in 2007 before heading to other countries including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and then Sweden last year.