Last week on South Audley Street in Mayfair, London’s Rick Owen‘s store opened alongside its pretty cool neighbours, Marc Jacobs, Dover Street Market (DSM) and the pap-favourite Scotts restaurant. Thursday, Lanvin is to open its doors in the same hood.
On a “go-see”, DSM and Rick Owens were completely empty. Going west, a smidge past Notting Hill, the much talked about Westfield, Europe’s largest (over a million square feet) and expensive (it cost nearly two billion pounds to build) mall is practically a desert. In its chandelier-laden “Luxury Village”, with shops like Burberry, Prada, Tiffany, Miu Miu Twenty8Twelve, etc, the atmosphere is tense. According to reports, sales are dramatically down. Foot traffic has fallen and about half a dozen stores have shut – barely six months in. One store hadn’t made a sale in six days. Pretty dire stuff.
So, how do retailers feel these days? Said one, sipping water at a recent opening, who naturally did not want to be named: “If we hadn’t signed the lease over eighteen months ago, and planned it for four years, I would have cancelled. Now, I am just [redacted due to un-polite language, so let's just say the word "clenched" was involved].”
Let’s hope Lanvin knows what they’re doing.
–CHARLEY B
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One would expect that any/all retailers opening at this moment know what they are in for. Lanvin will more than likely suffer for a while but they have deep pockets and the wherewithall to weather the storm…..until they decide it is or isn’t worth the expense.
fluff chance
http://emperorsoldclothes.blogspot.com/
I doubted the point of the ‘designer village’ at Westfield when it was first touted.
People shopping at such stores are far more likely to go to Mayfair or Knightsbridge or one of the big department stores (Selfridges, Harrods, Harvey Nicks, etc) than out to White City. The only people going to the Westfield designer village are the ones who will be spending their money in the mall’s high street stores instead.
The central London boutiques will no doubt be recession hit just like everyone else, but the reason the Westfield designer stores aren’t doing so well is because it was a terrible concept which was probably never going to do very well to begin with.
i was going to say exactly what number 2 just said. if people have the money to spend at these designer shops they certainly are not going to go to westfield. unless they really wanted a pizza hut afterwards.
AGREED!!! Why would people who have that money go to Westfield? When Westfield was thought of their still a market where people who aren’t typically going to buy luxury goods, might splurge on a bag or sunglasses. Now, this market has vanished.This just shows how the luxury brands are getting what was coming too them.
I think they were trying to introduce the Middle Eastern/Far Eastern concept where it’s common to have designer shops in ‘posh’ shopping malls (or at least in a smarter area of a regular malls), but with the strength and appeal of Bond Street and Sloane Street and the West End department stores it did seem doomed from the outset.
What really surprised me is how the luxury brands fell for it and agreed to open. Fair game with Vuitton because they peddle their tacky wears everywhere these days, but even Prada and Miu Miu agreed to open and they’re very picky about location normally.. did nobody tell Miuccia that it was a big, soul-less mall, in a shitty corner of West London?