Italian luxury lifestyle brand Paul & Shark is stepping up its
investment in the US domestic market over the next year and is confident that
this will reflect in new airport retail opportunities in the country. The company is opening two new stores
this year, while two others are being renovated and expanded.
Mid-April sees
the opening of a new 1,500sq m boutique in the Forum Shops in Las Vegas,
created by Milan-based Takeda Katuya Design to reflect Paul & Shark’s new
Milan showroom. And at the end of 2015, a 1,900sq ft store will begin trading in the Houston Galleria.
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| Paul & Shark's store at the Forum Shops in Las Vegas |
In addition, Paul & Shark will be extending its Rodeo
Drive, Beverly Hills store from 1,700sq ft to 2,000sq ft on the main floor plus
700sq ft on a mezzanine, with completion expected
by September. Next March will see the brand’s shop in Aventura, Florida also
expanded from 1,400sq ft to 2,600sq ft. Paul & Shark also has a monobrand
boutique on top shopping street Madison Avenue, New York.
All the stores will feature new-concept interiors and
storefronts of blue undulating aluminium sheet patchwork, intended to reflect
waves, evoking Paul & Shark’s yachting heritage.
Attracting high-spending Chinese tourists
The stores are expected to attract visitors not only from
the US but also China and the Middle East. “It is the
rapidly increasing levels of visitors from these high-spending nations that
bode well for Paul & Shark’s travel-retail development in America,” the firm said.
Worldwide travel-retail director Catherine Bonelli added:
“It is definitely the right time for Paul & Shark to focus on the US;
currently it represents just 10% of our global business but we consider there is
huge potential here for this Made in Italy luxury lifestyle brand. We are now
also exploring travel-retail opportunities in the US, where we can find the
right locations and space. Americans are becoming more and more familiar with
Paul & Shark and this, combined with the growing increase in Chinese,
Middle Eastern and South American visitors to the States, gives us a perfect
travel-retail opportunity.”
