FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact: Roy Kaufman at 503.823.4799 or Megan Doern at 503.552.6754
Portland, Ore. –The City of Portland, Portland Development Commission and the Portland Business Alliance are thrilled to welcome a major new tenant to downtown Portland – H&M, the third largest clothing retailer in the world. The store will open in Pioneer Place in fall of 2010.
"I'm proud to welcome H&M to Portland," said Mayor Sam Adams. "In addition to creating jobs, H&M is sure to attract even more shoppers to Portland's vibrant downtown, which benefits businesses across the district."
“This development really brings some great new energy to downtown,” said Sandra McDonough, president and CEO of the Portland Business Alliance. “It demonstrates that our downtown is continuing to be an attractor for major retailers.”
H&M will be located in the Rotunda Pavilion at Pioneer Place on Fourth Avenue, between Yamhill and Morrison streets. The store will be approximately 25,000 square feet and will employ many retail professionals.
“Pioneer Place is known as the destination for first-to-market shops and boutiques in Oregon and we are excited to welcome the state’s first H&M store to our retail mix,” said Bob Buchanan, senior general manager for Pioneer Place. “The center is always evolving to better meet our customers’ needs and wants … and H&M has been a top store request for a number of years.”
Last year, Mayor Sam Adams launched the Downtown Retail Strategy with the goal of creating a signature retail district in the retail core using Yamhill and Morrison streets as the “spine” of the district. H&M’s location between Yamhill and Morrison will be a central piece of the retail district and add to the mix of unique offerings in downtown. The Portland Business Alliance supported the efforts to recruit H&M and also works with a task force consisting of business, city and economic development representatives to implement the retail strategy.
A significant priority of the retail strategy is tenanting vacant properties in the retail core. Building off the success of the 2009 holiday pop-up shops downtown, the city, Portland Development Commission (PDC) and other private partners are examining options that would tenant some current vacancies downtown with local micro-retailers. This effort would support exemplary new and emerging fashion businesses that are an important part of the region's activewear cluster—and that embody the best of Portland talent—while also activating vacant storefronts in the retail core.
