H&M is opening a new location at 1120 Bellevue Square, according to King County records. The retailer will occupy the space previously leased by 365 by Whole Foods, which itself took over the spot after JCPenney vacated the area. The exact size of the new store and its opening date have not been disclosed.
The lease agreement for H&M’s Bellevue Square location includes an initial term of 10 years with a five-year renewal option. However, the exact square footage of the space remains unclear.
The Bellevue Square store will be the first H&M location on the Eastside of the Seattle metropolitan area. H&M already operates stores in other Washington cities, including Lynnwood, Tukwila, Silverdale, Auburn, Puyallup, and Tacoma. The company previously had stores in downtown Seattle and University Village.
Nationwide, H&M currently operates 496 stores, with the highest concentration of locations in California, where it runs 75 stores.
The space at Bellevue Square was most recently occupied by 365 by Whole Foods, which opened in September 2016. The store covered 30,000 square feet and was designed with a smaller footprint to reduce operating costs. It closed in October 2017, just over a year after opening, reportedly due to weak sales. The closure had been planned before Amazon acquired Whole Foods.
