I had heard of the Swedish clothing chain H&M, but didn’t give it too much thought since they didn’t have a store near me. That all changed recently when my wife and daughter made it very clear they were going to visit the first H&M in San Diego County as soon as possible after its recent opening. Then this article about H&M appeared on the front page of The San Diego Union-Tribune’s print editions. It’s been a long time since I can remember the U-T running an article about a specific retail store chain, so H&M must be doing something to garner such attention.

While it’s the low-cost, well-made, great-looking apparel that draws shoppers in, it looks like H&M knows how to market itself as well. The article notes that H&M planned to give away free T-shirts and $10 to $250 gift cards to the first 200 people in line, literally roll out a red carpet and have a disc jockey on hand on opening day. They didn’t need to, since people have waited in long lines up to 18 hours to be the first inside new H&M stores elsewhere.

A photo I saw of the new store’s interior showed clean, contemporary store fixtures with plenty of space for shoppers to wander the aisles without facing a crush of other shoppers. Since H&M relies on rapid turnover of its merchandise, it makes sense that they would display the newest, hottest items near the front of the store and less seasonal clothing farther inside.

I noticed that H&M is also on top of its online sales strategy, with a website that incorporates video and rich media. A recent article in EcommerceTimes.com names those two online features as “must-haves” for merchants who understand their online demographic.

I encourage you to read up about H&M and the “must-haves.” Great advice like this is free all over the Web, and by walking into successful retail stores. It’s all there just waiting for you to emulate in your own inimitable style. If you can get a line waiting outside your store any day of the week, you’ll have done your homework.