ALMATY, MARCH 18 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Confounding the sluggish economic outlook, Swedish fashion retailer H&M opened its first shop in Kazakhstan in one of Almaty’s biggest shopping malls, Mega Alma-Ata.
Young Kazakh fashionistas had been waiting since July last year when H&M said it was going to open the store, to start shopping at one of the most recognisable global high street brands.
Azamat, a civil servant, was walking with H&M bags through the Mega mall.
“It is very well-known brand, I have heard of it. And here is the only shop that has opened in Kazakhstan, in Almaty, so I came here and I’m glad,” she said.
Gaukhar, a student, reflected on other high-profile openings over the past couple of years. “I saw many people came to the opening, it was a bit wild. Just like the first months of Starbucks here,” she said.
Kazakhstan has developed something of a reputation as shopping Mecca in Central Asia. Ten years ago there were few international brands in Kazakhstan, now a European shopper would feel at home browsing the shops of Almaty’s main streets or a shopping mall in Astana.
Kazakhstan’s economy has been in limp mode since mid-2014. The tenge has halved in value and people’s living standards have fallen, but Aigerim Karimova, marketing specialist at the Mega shopping mall said that H&M’s entry into the Kazakh market showed that the economy had turned a corner.
“The very fact that H&M has entered the Kazakh market is already a modest victory,” she told said.
And the head of H&M’s business programme in Central Asia, Milena Yershova said in July that the company will be aggressive.
“H&M opens large stores which offers customers choice,” she said.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 322, published on March 27 2017)
