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| Third time`s a charm for Shangai Tang |
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Shanghai Tang, China’s premier luxury brand, has opened a new 3,200 square foot boutique on 600 Madison Avenue in New York City according to WWD.com. This is the Hong Kong-based fashion retailer’s third attempt at a brick and mortar store in the Big Apple.
Shanghai Tang made its first debut in New York (which was a PR disaster) with a 12,500 square foot store on Madison Avenue in 1997. Needless to say, it closed it in less than two years mainly due to poor sales and having misjudge the New York market for high end Asian apparel and products. After this less than stellar start, the retailer quietly moved to a smaller location. (So small, I haven’t been able to find the address now that it doesn’t exist anymore).
Perhaps Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, which has held major ownership since 1998, will have learned from David Tang’s mistakes and do better this time around. Though in this economy, I highly doubt that the market for expensive Chinese chic fashion and accessories has grown that much since 1997. Only time will tell.
Though one thing’s for sure—they have since hired a really good PR agency to build their branding and messaging as a luxury brand. While I can’t say with 100% certainty that a publicist was behind the good press (since I wasn’t there), but in my professional opinion, these top-tier business placements did not just magically appear out of no where:
* BusinessWeek: “China Goes Luxury” By Reena Jana
* CNN: “Designing A Global Brand” By Samantha Broun
* Fast Company: “The Gucci Killers” By Linda Tischler |
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