LUXURY brand retailer Dickson Concepts (International) has plans for substantial expansion in Hong Kong, despite the retail slump, baffling most analysts.
Almost in defiance of the pinch being generally felt by retailers in the territory and the rest of the region, group executive chairman Dickson Poon revealed a plan to open a full-scale department store in Hong Kong in the style of Harvey Nichols in Britain, a group Dickson acquired in 1991.
Mr Poon said the company had been working on the plan for the department store since the beginning of the year as the British operation established a hold.
Analysts doubted the soundness of the department store plan because operators in the field were already struggling to reduce costs.
Mr Poon also said yesterday his firm would open as many as 10 shops in Hong Kong during the current financial year, and about eight in other areas of Asia.
Mr Poon said falls in rent were helping the firm's expansion in Hong Kong.
He said the company would stick to traditional shopping districts in Central, Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, and certain parts of the New Territories.
