A “coming soon” sign announcing a fashion store outside a construction site at Ho Chi Minh City’s downtown Vincom Center is widely being interpreted as the location of the country’s first H&M store.

With the two-storey store fit-out shrouded by hoardings and no official word from the Swedish retailer, it is looking almost certain that H&M Vietnam will open in the mall – right alongside archrival Zara.

A collection of small retailers, including Swarovski, were ousted from two floors of the centre earlier in the year in preparation for the redevelopment.

Inside Retail Asia previously reported on speculation in Vietnamese press that H&M had shunned a downtown Ho Chi Minh City location in favour of opening stores in a Vincom Center in Hanoi and another in the city’s quiet, but expatriate-favoured District 2 on the other side of the Saigon River. H&M asked us to take down that story citing unspecified errors, but when invited to advise what the errors were so they could be corrected, the company’s Singapore office failed to communicate any further, so the story remained online.

There have been many rumours about H&M opening in Vietnam since its announcement last year.

The fast-fashion brand, which announced plans to enter Vietnam some months ago, has been recruiting and training staff in Hanoi.

When Zara opened its first store in Vietnam last September, it reportedly achieved one of the most successful first-day’s turnover of any market debut internationally.