LINES AND LUXURY

My first morning working in Tokyo in 2003 I walked the streets of Ginza and was shocked to see the lines of shoppers waiting to get in the front doors of luxury shops and high end department stores. Security guards let what appeared to be prescribed numbers in the door. By my informal calculation wait time was 20 to 30 minutes. To my eye many of shoppers standing in line were Chinese tourists. In the same year - I witnessed the same line waits outside luxury stores in Paris, again Asian tourists being the dominate line waiters. Controlling access to luxury good both in stores and sections of department stores has become the norm, from Gallery Lafayette (image above) to Macy's in NYC. Some of reasons may be density and service issues, but it is also perceptual and responsive. The origins of luxury have been rooted in selling to an aristocracy. France, England, Italy had a class of customers who understood high end products, had the money and enjoyed and appreciated the luxury retail environment. Since the mid 1990's we have witnessed a shift in global money. It is no longer dominated by "old" but is overwhelmingly "new". Across many part of Asia new money also saw luxury goods as another form of savings. How many Asian friends have described cleaning out their parents home and what they found stored in the closets. In 2024 the luxury landscape is changing and challenged. That Dot-com billionaire with a huge yacht is still buying his clothes from Land's End, and shopping for his kids at H&M. Luxury and quality often depend on educating first. Adornment in women's fashion has also taken on new meaning - as women enter conservative professions where a "uniform" is required and it is in shoes and jewelry that she sets her style. The frontier of luxury has shifted from Paris, London, New York and Tokyo to Dubai. Anyone visited the new Gold Souk?

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