H&M store closures: List includes several regions as fast fashion giant trims footprint by 128 locations

The fast-fashion retailer H&M is a staple in many malls and shopping districts across America and much of the rest of the world. The retailer operates more than 4,000 stores in 81 markets globally. But recently, H&M has been closing locations around the world, and its latest earnings report, released this week, reveals that more closures are yet to come. Here’s what you need to know. H&M has closed lots of locations over the last year. This week, the Swedish fashion giant H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB, better known as H&M, released its six-month report for 2026. The report updated investors on the company’s financials, sales performance, and other operational news. For its most recent quarter (Q2), which ended on May 31, H&M reported net sales of about 54.8 billion SEK, or around $5.6 billion. As noted by H&M, these results (in local currencies) “were fairly in line with last year” despite the company having around 3% fewer stores than it did a year earlier. H&M’s store closures are part of a broader organizational strategy aimed at better competing in a rapidly changing fast-fashion industry. That strategy involves optimizing its retail footprint. While store closures are one facet of the optimization plan, H&M is also opening new locations. But as the company’s most recent report shows, closures are outpacing new store openings, resulting in a notable net reduction of its retail footprint. Specifically, H&M revealed that it reduced its retail footprint across all its brands by 128 net locations over its most recent 12-month period. As of the end of May last year, H&M’s brands had a total of 4,166 retail stores globally. But by May 31, 2026, that number had fallen to 4,036. H&M says the regions that had the highest net loss of stores during that period were: Asia, Oceania and Africa: -97 Western Europe: -20 The Nordics: -17 Eastern Europe: -4 During that same one-year period, Southern Europe gained two stores, and North and South America gained eight. H&M’s retail