H&M to Open This Spring; Nordstrom Rack Announces Plans to open in the Maxwell (Canal and Taylor)

South Loop shoppers have had a lot of reason to rejoice lately, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting:

Fashion-forward clothing retailer H&M will open a new store this spring — its third in Chicago — at the Roosevelt Collection shopping center in the South Loop.

The 26,000-square-foot space will sell clothing for men, women, children and a plus-size line, and will feature “store within store” sections for accessories, lingerie, maternity and sports apparel, the Swedish retailer announced Monday.

Last we heard (back in late November 2012) the new retail at Roosevelt Collection wasn't going to open until Autumn of 2013.  Apparently some of the stores might open earlier.

Another interesting thing we heard was from a friend of the blog who was looking at renting in the Sloop.  They said that the leasing agent couldn't confirm anything, but two "fruit stores" were going to open.  While we're not nutritionists we assume they were referring to Apple and Lululemon, two high profile retailers that were at once rumored to be considering Roosevelt Collection.

As always take this rumor with a grain of salt.  Our guess is that they were simply trying to entice someone to sign a lease.  Hopefully we are wrong about this...but you know how that goes.

In other retail news, it was announced last week that Nordstrom Rack is planning on coming to the Maxwell, a new retail development at the corner of Canal and Taylor.  While news about The Maxwell has been consistent, a confirmed tenant is a pretty big news.  Back in late 2012 we had a post with rumors of potential tenants (including Nordstrom Rack), but were unsure if these were real or just for illustrative purposes.

Sound like one is definitely real.  Here is a quote from the company:

"We're excited to have the opportunity to further grow our downtown Chicago presence with our new location at The Maxwell," Geevy Thomas, president of Nordstrom Rack, said in a statement. "We want to be a part of compelling locations across the country and are looking forward to getting our doors open so that we can help more customers in the South Loop neighborhood."

More positive news for the retail scene in the Sloop.  Slowly but surely it seems like the often talked about "Roosevelt Retail Corridor" is starting to gain momentum.

(Hat tip: KPAX, AR, EJM, CM, JN, SB!)