Hermès Revamps First Mainland China Store in The Peninsula Beijing
LONDON — Hermès on Monday unveiled the renovated and expanded store in The Peninsula Beijing, the site of the brand’s first store in mainland China, which opened in 1997.
Almost doubling its original size, the new store offers a more spacious and inviting environment for customers to explore the brand’s full range of products, from the silk collections, fashion jewelry and beauty, to leather goods, women’s and men’s fashion, equestrian and fine jewelry and watches.
More from WWD
The new space comes with a distinctive facade, designed by the Parisian architecture agency RDAI, made with wooden diamond-shaped tiles arranged in a way that resembles the scales of the dragon statues in the nearby Forbidden City. While the gray stone of the temples of the imperial palace served as a source of inspiration for the store floors.
On the walls, the store features a photograph by Raphaëlle Peria entitled “Le marché aux oiseaux,” which serves as a nod to the significance of birds in Chinese culture, as well as the drawing of the carré Astrologie Astronomie by Hermès longtime collaborator Gianpaolo Pagni, echoing the warm color palette of the store.
The Parisian brand said the redesign is “a testament to the house’s long-standing history and confidence in the Chinese market and its dynamic capital city.”
With 27 stores, China was a key driver behind the brand’s robust performance in 2022, and the market continued its celebratory rebound with strong spending over the Chinese New Year holiday in the first quarter of 2023, when Hermès sales rose 23 percent to 3.38 billion euros.
China’s craze for Hermès bags could be seen during the latest edition of Art Basel Hong Kong, and the recent Sotheby’s auction of Hong Kong property tycoon Joseph Lau’s rare Hermès bags, which sold for more than $3 million.
Hermès has been upping its output to meet demand, aiming for a 7 percent increase this year. A factory in Louviers, France, opened on April 7 and is focusing on increasing production of the popular bags. Another factory in the Eastern region of France is slated for a May opening, and three others are under construction, due to roll out over the next two years.
Over the weekend, Hermès hosted a preview for its VIPs with rare bags and high jewelry on offer, according to social media posts on Xiaohongshu.
It was followed by a dinner party at the Guardian Art Center with attendees including Bertrand Lortholary, French ambassador to China, Cameron Cundle, general manager at The Peninsula Beijing, and Weiming Cao, Greater China president at Hermès.
In Beijing, Hermès operates three stores downtown, with the other two in China World Mall and SKP, as well as two airport locations.
The Peninsula Beijing is widely considered the birthplace of luxury retail in mainland China. Louis Vuitton opened its first mainland store there in 1992, and the rest soon followed.
While several other major luxury retail players have risen over the years in Beijing, many top brands chose to stay with the hotel, such as Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Graff, Harry Winston, Jenny Packham and Shiatzy Chen.
Hermès has been upgrading and upsizing its stores in China to better cater to the fast-growing demand. The brand was said to have brought in at least 19 million renminbi, or $2.7 million, in sales on the reopening day of its flagship store in Guangzhou’s Taikoo Hui, at the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020.
The brand’s Wuhan store at the city’s mega luxury shopping mall Heartland 66 last year, meanwhile, reportedly raked in around 30 million renminbi, or $4.45 million, on opening day, according to users on Xiaohongshu. The two-floor store replaced the former Wuhan location at Wuhan International Plaza opened in 2012.
In January, the brand celebrated the reopening of its Nanjing store within Deji Plaza with an auspicious ceremony featuring a Taoist priest, dressed in a yellow robe and a traditional headpiece, reciting specific passages while holding burning incense, then kneeling before a table full of auspicious offerings to worship the god of wealth. The extensive ritual was widely discussed by Chinese netizens online.
Best of WWD
