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Luxury brand Louis Vuitton is taking a cautious approach to the country's retailing malaise as it marks the launch of its new Queen St concept store.
Jean-Baptiste Debains, the Hong Kong-based president of Louis Vuitton Asia Pacific, said the retail slowdown had not affected them yet.
"We're quite confident, but we're also cautious, because the overall economic growth and sentiment does have an impact on all retailing including in the luxury business."
Debains, who was here for the new store's official opening on Thursday, said that despite the prevailing global economic climate, the brand was still experiencing double-digit growth in the United States and strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
"In these kind of times, when people might be more cautious, they probably go more towards extremes. So they will go towards luxury, knowing that they might be paying more but they're sure of a certain quality.
"It's probably more the middle end of the market that might suffer because they don't necessarily always have the real added-value that creates a difference and that will justify the prices that they have."
The new store marks another chapter in Louis Vuitton's 16-year history in the country as it replaces the French suitcase and bag retailer's first store here, also on Queen St.
Occupying an area of 291 sq m, the new store is housed in an early 20th century building on lower Queen St. The fitout took five months, and the store opened for select clients on May 27 for two days before its public opening on May 29.
Debains said the company had looked at ways to expand the original store, but in the end decided to relocate.
The larger store would better enable it to showcase its range of products, he said. Louis Vuitton handbags start at about $600.
The store, which Debains described as Louis Vuitton's most important among its four New Zealand outlets, features a VIP room - the first for the company in Australasia and only the sixth in the Asia Pacific region.
Its location - next to Gucci's first New Zealand store - also marks the beginning of what many are tipping to be a transformation of the lower end of Auckland's premier retailing street into a luxury shopping precinct.
Three other big-name luxury brands - Chanel, Prada and Tiffany - are rumoured to be looking to set up in the same neighbourhood, as is computer giant Apple.
Debains said he saw positives in the clustering of luxury retailers. "I think in a way it participates in letting people know more about the luxury brands.
"We're, by quite far, the leaders in this universe, but we're happy to have competitors come."
