In a scene reminiscent of the pre-internet days of camping out for concert tickets, a hundred or more shoppers spent Thursday night outside the new Hennes & Mauritz store at Atlantic Station.

The store, more commonly known as H&M, doesn't open until noon Friday, but that didn't keep the line from forming before sundown on Thursday.

MIKE MORRIS/AJC (ENLARGE)

Shoppers camped out overnight to be the first in line when the H&M store at Atlantic Station opens its doors.

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Part of the attraction was the promise of free T-shirts and gift cards worth $10 to $500 for the first 300 customers, but some in line said that simple excitement over the Swedish retailer's second metro Atlanta store led them to spend a balmy night under the stars.

"I haven't been to H&M since I was in London," said Lindsey Lord.

Lord, 20, said she went straight to Atlantic Station to get in line when she got off work at a nearby Starbucks at 9 p.m. Thursday. Still, she found more than a dozen people already queued up.

At 5 a.m., the line already stretched about three-quarters of the way around the large store. Many of those in line slept in sleeping bags and on blankets, while others brought tents for the overnight stay.

The retailer's first Atlanta-area store opened last month at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, and two more suburban stores, at the Mall of Georgia and at Town Center Cobb, are expected to open this fall.