Adventures Inside H&M

You'd have to be living under a rock to not know H&M. Yes. The wildly popular Swedish retailer born in Stockholm. I had always heard of H&M, previously. They are all over America now, well, all over the world, however, I had never shopped there. Not for any particular reason, it's just that H&M and I had never crossed paths. Oh wait. I did step inside one in San Francisco.  A really big store, which seemed a bit overwhelming. I lasted only several minutes.

Living in Stockholm, H&M screams out at me. In the center of the city, in one city block alone, there are four to five stand alone stores. Big ones too, along with the corporate offices. You'd think with that many stores in close vicinity they wouldn't be crowded, teaming with aggressive shoppers. WRONG. It doesn't seem to matter.

When I walk into one of the many of H&M stores in Stockholm it's like walking into the lion's den. I literally have to give myself a pep talk before I enter. There have been days where I was planning on going in and I quickly change my mind because I didn't have the strength. Sad. I know. But, if you aren't hungry enough to shop, you just might get run over be someone, because I have, and it isn't pretty. You think I'm exaggerating? Well, let me just say - I'm not.


I mean, I thought I was strong willed, but there is something about fighting over pairs of leggings that make me go weak. I'm easily intimidated by shoppers who won't let anything stand in their way, even me, looking at a particular item first. Craziness. To the maximum. I've been pushed out of the way as if an after thought. Does anyone know how to say "excuse me" in the joint? Ah-em, I mean ursäkta mig. It doesn't seem to be in the vocabulary, and I've got bruises to prove it, lol.