Helly Hansen Store Opens In Manchester 27 October 2009

Fiona, Howard and Bruce had a great time attending the launch of the Flagship Helly Hansen Store in the Manchester Arndale Centre. Not having been to the Manchester before we were hugely impressed at how showy and busy it was. The doormen were unmissable in bright orange Helly Hansen Survival Suits and the red carpet snaking in the door up to the Ice Bar was a give-away. Enjoying vodka and tonics with ice slivers (so much more interesting than normal ice cubes) we mingled with celebrities (footballers WAG’s no less), photographers and all our friends at Helly Hansen – Emma, Jax and David, Paul Magner – the man who organises the Helly Hansen Adventure Challenge Series, Daria from Hill and Knowlton, Kate from ADPR and Peter from HH’s head office in Norway was here especially for the launch and also looking at locations for more stores.

We chose a few more essential items that we couldn’t get through winter without and then teamed up to go on an orienteering course around the city. Should have been wearing HH shoes as the high heels slowed some of us down, however the vodka shots at check points helped and were a nice change to regular race gel shots! We arrived at the Champagne bar and drank some special HH cocktails, inspired by the baselayer range. The HH Cool was very refreshing and the HH Warm was going to cause sore heads in the morning!

It was great to meet the HH team in a social atmosphere and it was fabulous to see all the new HH products, from the lifestyle items through to the professional outdoor wear in the flesh! We think that the store will be hugely successful and we’ll be going back next year to see the summer kit! If you are in Manchster then it is definately worth a visit, as they have a mighty range of jackets and other items in store to keep you warm and dry over the winter. We will also keep you posted with news of the other stores as they happen and the new e-commerce store which will be launched in the spring. You can read more about Helly Hansen Manchester and see what is happening via their facebook page.