Yet another addition to Seattle’s ever-expanding retail market is coming to us in the fall of 2008.

H&M, the trendy and cheap mecca for all fashionable bargain shoppers, will soon be closer than a plane ride away for Seattleites. The store started in Sweden in 1947 and has now evolved into a Euro-American flagship of inexpensive chic clothing.

Fans of the store are used to making the journey to the Bay area, the East Coast, or any of the other 129 U.S. store locations, but soon shoppers can find their clothes in H&M’s new 18,000-square-foot location in the U-Village. When H&M fanatics venture into a city that has one of the stores, visiting it becomes a top priority.

Junior Camille Shumann, who traveled to San Francisco to tour colleges with her mother, found herself enticed by the big, bright, red letters of H&M. “It was hard to focus on colleges and my tours because the whole time all I wanted to do was shop at H&M.” Shumann explained. “I usually wouldn’t spend as much money as I did when I went to H&M but since there isn’t a store in Seattle I decided to go all out.”

Another attraction of H&M is the feeling that nobody else in Seattle will have the clothes when the shopper returns home, but come fall of 2008, there will be carbon-copies of H&M shoppers left and right.

This is something that they will have to ignore because the uniqueness of their style will soon be a thing of the past. However, it’s unfortunate for the class of 2008 who will not be able to enjoy the fruits of the new H&M in Seattle while they are off at college.

On the other hand, next year’s seniors will be the best dressed class yet.