Forever 21 debuts in Macau

American fashion brand Forever 21 opened its very first store in Macau on Saturday. The new store, which occupies a total of more than 19,500 square feet over five levels, is located in the Yellow House, close to Macau’s iconic Ruins of Saint Paul. “We strategically chose the vibrant and fashion-forward Macau to introduce the brand further to China and the Asia market,” Linda Chang, Forever 21 general merchandise manager, said. Forever 21 is a model for fast fashion retailing women’s and men’s clothing and accessories. The retailer operates over 615 stores in the United States, with international operations in Canada, mainland China, Hong Kong and Europe. The new Macau store features a selection of apparel, accessories and lingerie as well as shoes, and offers other retail brands such as 21MEM, a line of fast fashion for men. Forever 21 is – in the United States – one of the most popular exponents of the so-called ‘fast fashion’ model used by firms such as H&M and Zara, where trends in fashion are quickly brought to market at low cost. In addition to the clothing store, the six-storey building will house a food souvenir shop on the premises. The Yellow House site hit the headlines last year when it emerged that a Macau Government Tourist Office promoted exhibition – meant to showcase the diversification of the local economy by displaying products of local designers and companies – was to be displaced because Future Bright demanded a massive hike in rent. The clothing brand will pay a monthly 2.4 million patacas to Future Bright Holdings Ltd, which owns the six-storey building that was once leased to the Macau Government Tourist Office for 14 million patacas a year.