Luxury Rushes East: Hong Kong Booms With New Flagships
This booming metropolis — and preeminent gateway to fast-growing China — has become the hottest international retail capital as fashion and luxury goods players build massive, glittering flagships here at a staggering pace.
A major Chanel boutique opens in the Prince`s Building today, followed by another by Louis Vuitton — with Marc Jacobs hosting the festivities — on Thursday at the Landmark. Meanwhile, Gucci, Chlo?, Jean Paul Gaultier and Miu Miu are other European brands plotting significant openings here in 2006, while Dior, Tod`s and Ferragamo are among firms unveiling larger locations next year.
"Hong Kong now, it`s like New York. It`s at the top level of capitals," agreed Sidney Toledano, president of Dior, which operates nine boutiques in Hong Kong and will unveil next year an expanded 11,000-square-foot flagship on Peking Road, complete with Hong Kong`s first Dior Homme boutique. "It`s always been about high energy," he said of the city. "It`s just a matter of finding the space."
Fast-growing Chlo?, which has a single London flagship, will soon have a pair in Hong Kong: a two-floor unit in the Mandarin Oriental opens in August, while its original location at Pacific Place will double in size in October. Both will be christened with a large-scale event in the fall, and the brand is eyeing the city`s Kowloon side in China for still another boutique at a later date.