Swedish fashion giant H&M finally pulled down the shutters at The Venetian Macao on Sunday evening, closing its last physical store in the city.
The store was opened in June 2015 by British football superstar David Beckham. A spokesman for Hennes & Mauritz, said: “We have reached the end of the lease of this H&M store in Shoppes at The Venetian Macao, in mutual agreement with the landlord, and have decided to move out.”
The spokesman said that H&M would continue to seek new opportunities to open stores, but that for the time being it would continue to “optimise its business in Macao via the digital platform.”
H&M explained that it is currently undergoing a transformation aiming to increase its digital business presence.
“H&M group is now accelerating this process by further integrating digital and physical stores, providing a seamless omnichannel experience for our customers. Having stores in the right locations has always been fundamental to the success of the company, so reviewing and making changes to our store portfolio is something we do continuously across all markets.”
After the 19,000 square foot, two-storey retail space at The Venetian Macao was launched, the brand opened a second store at the Promenade in Galaxy Macau.
The Galaxy store closed last year when it became embroiled in a controversy about human rights abuses in mainland China. This led to landlords severing ties with the brand and closure of many physical stores. Several celebrities also announced they were cutting ties with the brand at the same time, Macau Daily Times reported.
