Several retailers have opened stores at Stockland Rockhampton in Central Queenland yesterday.

Swedish fast fashion giant H&M has opened another store with its new 2,500 square metre store following hot on the heels of the retailer’s opening in Townsville last month.

Lifestyle brand Mimco and designer sleepwear brand, Peter Alexander also opened doors, adding to the tenancy mix that has seen several national retailers join the centre this year including, Harris Scarfe, Universal Store, Napoleon Perdis and Emma & Roe.

“We are committed to regional Queensland and look forward to continuing to draw the biggest and best brands to Stockland Rockhampton to maintain our lead as the number one shopping destination in the region,” said Tim Beattie, general manager for development and design at Stockland.

Stockland has seven shopping centres in regional Queensland and an asset value of $1.4 billion. Almost 800 retailers operate in one of seven Stockland shopping centres in the region.

Earlier this year, Stockland lodged plans for a $45 million extension of Stockland Rockhampton Shopping Centre to form an integrated Entertainment and Leisure Precinct. If approved, the redevelopment will see Stockland expand the adjacent cinema complex, add 11 new food and specialty retailers and 15 new carparking spaces taking the total to over 2,800.

This follows the opening of ‘The Terrace’ in July last year – a $6.6 million, 250-seat dining precinct offering customers an array of casual dining eateries.

H&M entered the Australian market in 2014 and now has 24 stores open across Australia and more than 4,500 stores in 68 markets worldwide.

Fashion fans camp out in Sydney

Die-hard fashion fans have spent more than 24 hours camped out and in crumpled clothes to be one of the first in the world to nab a piece of H&M’s latest collection.

Line veteran Ricky Lieu was one of the first to shop the collection by Canada-born designer Erdem Moralioglu when doors opened on Thursday morning, a privilege costing him more than a day of his time.

“I got here at 6 o’clock yesterday morning,” he told AAP on Thursday.

“We all love fashion and we want to have the latest items…we are interested in every collection.”

The buzz of being the first to own something new is a high that Lieu says he chases year round.

“I would line like this around 10 times a year…I camped for the iPhone for, like, days,” he said.

“You want to own the first item; to be that person on the first day is really cool … if you really like fashion it’s like you are on top of the world when you own that item no one else owns.

“We have to save for that for a long time and then you know when we are ready we just go without regret or hesitation.”

While Australian stores only opened their doors to sell the collection from 9am Thursday, eBay had already listed a number of items from the H&M-Erdem collaboration for sale with heavily inflated price tags.

Romantic and bold, pieces from the Erdem collection sport floral themes and intricate detailing, with selected dresses and coats retailing at the $200-$300 mark.

An hour after the doors opened, prices from buyers reselling their wares online had shot up to $700.

Also waiting in line on Thursday was Sydney man Andy Kelly whose efforts were purely based on admiration of the London-based designer.

He and his friends waited from 4am for the chance to grab a piece that they believe may only come once in their lifetimes.

“We do love Erdem. He’s one of my favourite textile designers and he’s never done menswear before and in so many words, he has said he will never make menswear again,” Kelly told AAP on Thursday.

“So it’s quite a necessity that we get what we can, when we can.”

It’s not only the label attached to the clothes that makes them desirable, Kelly explained.

“For the menswear, personally I really enjoy how he didn’t shy away from hyper-femininity…ruffles, florals, silks I think that was a very interesting and a brave choice,” he said.

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