H&M’S LATIN BEAT: H&M will enter the Latin American market in the fall when it opens its first store in the region in the shopping mall Centro Santa Fe in Mexico City. “It will be the perfect first step for H&M [to enter] this fashion-conscious region,” said Karl-Johan Persson, chief executive officer of H&M. The new store will be one of H&M’s largest in the world. With 2,500 H&M stores in 44 countries, the retailer plans to continue growing at a rate of 10 to 15 percent a year. Other new markets H&M plans to enter this year include Bulgaria, Thailand and Indonesia. Centro Santa Fe is the third-biggest mall in Latin America, with about 300 upscale specialty stores and department stores that attract 8 million visitors a year.