Express fails to impress

THE new-look Express store launched by Lane Crawford is failing to score a hit with the younger generation at which it was aimed, the company said yesterday.

Chairman John Lees, speaking at the Land Crawford Italian Month promotion, said the company had not hit on the right look at Express after six months of operation.

'I think the store is not young enough and has been too close to [the main] Land Crawford,' he said. 'We simply don't have the right merchandise.' The first Lane Crawford Express opened last year at a 40,000 square foot site in Times Square, Causeway Bay.

But the chairman said the store was too conservative to achieve the right market image among the company's target consumers, and that the actual space was too large.

'The store itself is too big for the target market,' he said.

A second Express store will be opened at the beginning of next month in Sha Tin.