Hema opens in Mexico, but (for now) only online

Dutch retailer Hema has entered the Mexican market via a webshop. The opening of 200 physical stores – scheduled for this year – has been delayed due to the Covid-19 crisis.

A later time

Hema had announced its Mexican launch earlier this year: in collaboration with local franchise partners Ensueno Group and Modateles Group, 200 stores were supposed to open before the end of the year. However, since then, things have become a little messy for the Dutch chain: turnover plummeted due to the coronavirus crisis and a struggle for the ownership became quite ugly.

The Mexican expansion has therefore been changed into an online-only affair, with a webshop being opened just now. The physical stores will follow later on, the only statements regarding this being that the first opening will “follow at a later time” and that the opening of the 200 stores will happen before the end of 2025, rather than 2020.

The online shop, decorated with typically Dutch words like “leuk” and “gezellig”, will offer a product range of some 4000 items – many of them coming at a more elevated price compared to the European stores. Mexico is the twelfth country in which Hema becomes active, but the first in the Americas.