Saskatchewan’s first H&M store opens in Regina

Hundreds of people lined up at Regina’s Cornwall Centre Thursday morning for the grand opening of Saskatchewan’s first H&M retail store.

The downtown mall announced on Twitter the first 500 people in line will win gift cards valued between $10 and $300.

“We are just so pumped, we’ve been working on this project behind the scenes for three years,” said Cornwall Centre general manager Doug Kozak in an interview with the CJME Morning Show.

H&M staff members have been working round the clock to get everything ready for the doors to open at 11 a.m.

Here’s the time lapse of the line to get into @hm ! Just spoke with security who’s last count of people lined up was roughly 425. People are lined up all the way out into the parking lot this hour. #yqr pic.twitter.com/WUejV41saf

— Jessika Guse (@JessikaGuse) March 29, 2018

Let the shopping begin! @hm officially opens @CornwallCentre more than 500 people lined up to take in the brand new store! #yqr pic.twitter.com/9xyMOqZi78

— Jessika Guse (@JessikaGuse) March 29, 2018

Kozak described some of the major renovation work on two heritage buildings that went on behind the scenes to prepare for the 25,000 square foot, two-floor clothing store.

The mall had to relocate eight tenants to make space for the retailer. Three stores moved within the shopping centre while five more left permanently.

“We had to basically gut the inside of the old Havik building,” he said.

“The historic facades were braced and the roof, the second floor and the main floor all had to come out so that we could level that building to tie into the same floor elevations as the main building and the shopping centre.”

He said the historic lighting sconces were found in a pile of rubble in the basement during construction, but they were preserved and added on to the building again, which Kozak said gives it an extra touch of class.

The pedestrian walkway that tied into the Alvin Hamilton Building and the Royal Bank was also moved to make room.

H&M staff give high fives to people in line for the grand opening of the store at Cornwall Centre March 29, 2018. (Jessika Guse/980 CJME)

While the new H&M store may be a big draw, the Sears anchor store for the shopping mall sits empty.

Kozak didn’t reveal any details, but said there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to find a replacement tenant.

He noted this has been a tough year with several major retail bankruptcies across Canada.