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Luxury brands flock to suburbs and vacation hot spots where the rich are riding out the pandemic
Business
Far from Fifth Avenue: Luxury brands flock to suburbs and vacation hot spots where the rich are riding out the pandemic
Dior, Balenciaga and Hermès are opening stores in places like Scottsdale, Aspen and suburban Detroit to capitalize on booming sales
A vintage Airstream trailer is filled with Watches of Switzerland's display in the Hamptons in New York. (Watches of Switzerland)
By Abha Bhattarai
September 10, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Forget Fifth Avenue and Rodeo Drive.
Luxury retailers are rushing to open new and increasingly lavish stores in suburbs and the vacation hot spots where the wealthy have retreated during the pandemic. Gucci is heading to Oak Brook, Ill. Moncler recently set up shop in Vail, Colo. Dior has a new storefront in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Louis Vuitton in Plano, Tex. And Hermès, the maker of the $500,000 Birkin bag, is settling into suburban Detroit.
“There’s a bit of a luxury land grab going on,” said David Hurley, executive vice president of the Watches of Switzerland Group, which has opened eight stores this year, including Breitling boutiques in San Jose, Nashville and suburban Philadelphia. “Like many others, we’re doubling down on store expansion plans.”
Though the pandemic has battered the economy, casting millions of people out of work, the wealthiest among them flourished from a booming stock market and soaring home values. Americans have saved $2.6 trillion since the coronavirus outbreak began, with the richest quintile accounting for the vast majority of that tally, according to Oxford Economics.
With travel and dining out largely off the table, many are splurging in other ways. Sales of luxury homes — with a median price of $1.03 million — surged 88 percent in the most recent quarter, far outpacing their lower-priced counterparts, according to data from national real estate brokerage Redfin. Demand for second homes, which more than doubled early in the pandemic, remained elevated through May. High-end automakers Audi and BMW saw revenue spike 90 percent in the most recent quarter, while Porsche sold a record 36,300 vehicles in the first half of the year.
{snip}
By Abha Bhattarai
Abha Bhattarai is the national retail reporter for The Washington Post. She was previously a reporting fellow at the New York Times. Twitter https://twitter.com/abhabhattarai
Far from Fifth Avenue: Luxury brands flock to suburbs and vacation hot spots where the rich are riding out the pandemic
Dior, Balenciaga and Hermès are opening stores in places like Scottsdale, Aspen and suburban Detroit to capitalize on booming sales
A vintage Airstream trailer is filled with Watches of Switzerland's display in the Hamptons in New York. (Watches of Switzerland)
By Abha Bhattarai
September 10, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Forget Fifth Avenue and Rodeo Drive.
Luxury retailers are rushing to open new and increasingly lavish stores in suburbs and the vacation hot spots where the wealthy have retreated during the pandemic. Gucci is heading to Oak Brook, Ill. Moncler recently set up shop in Vail, Colo. Dior has a new storefront in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Louis Vuitton in Plano, Tex. And Hermès, the maker of the $500,000 Birkin bag, is settling into suburban Detroit.
“There’s a bit of a luxury land grab going on,” said David Hurley, executive vice president of the Watches of Switzerland Group, which has opened eight stores this year, including Breitling boutiques in San Jose, Nashville and suburban Philadelphia. “Like many others, we’re doubling down on store expansion plans.”
Though the pandemic has battered the economy, casting millions of people out of work, the wealthiest among them flourished from a booming stock market and soaring home values. Americans have saved $2.6 trillion since the coronavirus outbreak began, with the richest quintile accounting for the vast majority of that tally, according to Oxford Economics.
With travel and dining out largely off the table, many are splurging in other ways. Sales of luxury homes — with a median price of $1.03 million — surged 88 percent in the most recent quarter, far outpacing their lower-priced counterparts, according to data from national real estate brokerage Redfin. Demand for second homes, which more than doubled early in the pandemic, remained elevated through May. High-end automakers Audi and BMW saw revenue spike 90 percent in the most recent quarter, while Porsche sold a record 36,300 vehicles in the first half of the year.
{snip}
By Abha Bhattarai
Abha Bhattarai is the national retail reporter for The Washington Post. She was previously a reporting fellow at the New York Times. Twitter https://twitter.com/abhabhattarai
