Editors Desk: Big news on the retail front

I'm back on the job after a week of vacation, and right away a big local story is breaking. H&M, a trendy discount retailer based in Sweden, is going to open a store at Modesto's Vintage Faire Mall. While H&M has been around for decades overseas, it's a relative newcomer to the United States.

The retailer caused a sensation when it opened its store on Fifth Avenue in New York a few years ago. I was working at Rockefeller Center at the time, and for days crowds of shoppers snaked around the corner up 51st Street nearly to Rockefeller Plaza. The New York store was several stories tall and offered great deals on clothing.

H&M will certainly be a drawing card for Vintage Faire. If the opening here is anything like the one in New York, it will be a significant event.

Dan