Burberry Says Shanghai Closures Are Strategic, New Shops Are on the Way
Liao Shumin
DATE:  Apr 08 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Burberry Says Shanghai Closures Are Strategic, New Shops Are on the Way Burberry Says Shanghai Closures Are Strategic, New Shops Are on the Way

(Yicai Global) April 8 -- The Shanghai flagship store of the luxury fashion brand of the UK's Burberry Group shut at the start of this month, but two new stores will open in succession in town in the next few months.

The fashion house told media this in a bid to quell adverse speculation The shuttered venue was in L'Avenue in the Hongqiao Development Zone on the city's far western outskirts. 

One of the deluxe label's stores in Jinan, capital of eastern Shandong province, also wound up its operations a few days ago.

China is a key market for the London-based clothier, and it is wholly dedicated to long-term growth in the country, it said, adding it has many major investments in Shanghai. 

The L'Avenue outlet that closed on April 1 was the fourth the company has shut down in the eastern megacity, even as it announced the reopening of the Jing An Kerry Center location on March 27.

That flagship store has now resumed after re-decoration and two more shops are in the works in other Shanghai malls in coming months.

Torching Togs

The outfitter has started its brand transformation and tweaked its positioning since 2017, and closure and replacement of shops is a significant link in this process, it said. It will slash the number of its stores and swell its wholesale business to retrench its brand. 

The company is currently reconfiguring its logo, burning its inventories, and introducing more youth-oriented designs.

It is also selling collaborative series items with fellow-UK fashion line Vivienne Westwood and taking other measures with Burberry Chief Executive Marco Gobbetti's aid and that of new Chief Creative Officer Riccardo Tisci.

Burberry has from three to six stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu and Hangzhou. Tianjin, Jinan, Wuhan and Nanjing have two each, while Shenzhen, Chongqing, Dalian, Changchun and Changsha each have one, information on the luxury fashion brand's official Chinese mainland website shows.

Some under-performing 'shops-in-shops' in malls -- rented spaces within larger stores -- and those far from high-end consumption communities will all be axed, Gobbetti said in May.

Editor: Ben Armour

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Keywords:   Burberry,Shanghai