H&M opens first UK café at Westfield London

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Dec 4, 2018

H&M has brought its in-store café concept, Pleats, for the first time to the UK, opening within its store at Westfield White City this week.

Designed to provide a space where shoppers can unwind, the 2,400-square-foot café serves healthy breakfasts, lunches and treats on level 1 in the brand’s new extension.

The concept was first unveiled in Stockholm last year, and the Westfield London space is one of four globally.

Green velvet sofas, touches of raffia and plenty of greenery ensure the café is Instagram-worthy, which coupled with its health-conscious menu, is likely to attract wellness lovers, influencers and hungry shoppers.

This is not the first time H&M Group has stepped into café territory. One of the Swedish group’s newest brands, Arket, includes a vegetarian and vegan café in each of its six UK shops. Based on the principles of the New Nordic Food Manifesto, the Arket café aims to combine the best from Nordic cuisine with flavours from abroad.

It is unclear whether H&M is planning to open more cafés across the UK, but the group has been introducing several changes lately to remain relevant in the ever changing retail world.

The group announced last month plans to close its Cheap Monday fascia and launched a new brand, Nyden, as a standalone fascia earlier this year, only to fold it into its main hm.com website six months after its launch.