Hollister to open in China

Hollister is headed to China.

The surf-inspired chain owned by Abercrombie & Fitch will open a store in Hong Kong at the Festival Walk shopping center this year. And, it will also open a store in mainland China at a mall this year, Abercrombie CEO Michael Jeffries told analysts yesterday during an earnings conference call.

Hollister is accelerating its international openings this year to 30 to 40 stores.

Abercrombie has seen great success overseas with both Hollister and Abercrombie stores. The company’s international sales rose 79% in fiscal 2010.

In the U.K., Hollister stores comped “well above” the overall company rate of 13%.

The four German Hollister stores have volumes that are double their initial projections, and Hollister’s three Spanish stores are more than 50% higher.

To put it in perspective, Hollister now has a $300 million annual business in Europe two years after opening its first store there.