Cartier closes boutique at 1881 Heritage as it consolidates retail network in Tsim Sha Tsui amid Hong Kong’s luxury sales slump

Cartier is closing its boutique at 1881 Heritage, put the outlet on Peking Road through renovations, while opening a new pace at K11 Musea

Last year, Tiffany & Co closed its 1881 Heritage outlet when its lease expired

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Cartier store at the 1881 Heritage shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui on 3 October 2020. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 9:00pm, 3 Oct 2020Updated: 11:50pm, 3 Oct 2020

Cartier, the French luxury jeweller and watch maker, said it’s closing one of seven boutiques in Hong Kong to consolidate its sales network, reflecting the predicament of the city’s luxury retail industry amid a bruising recession and a collapse in tourist arrivals.

The jeweller closed its boutique at CK Asset’s Heritage 1881 shopping centre on Canton Road, Cartier said in a statement. Separately, the retailer opened an outlet at New World Development’s K11 Musea, and put a nearby outlet on Peking Road through renovations.

The rationalisation of Cartier’s three boutiques in Tsim Sha Tsui underscores the strategic changes that luxury retail operators must make to survive Hong Kong’s retail slump, as tourist arrivals trickled to a standstill. Tsim Sha Tsui, the traditional destination for shoppers from mainland China, has suffered the brunt of the slump, where August retail sales shrank for the 19th consecutive month.

“Malls in shopping districts need to change their trade mix,” said DBS Bank (Hong Kong)’s property sector analyst Jeff Yau. “As tourist spending falls, [the retailers of ] luxury goods simply do not need so many stores. In the luxury goods industry, a consolidation is under way.”

The collapse of tourist arrivals has added to the woes of reduced spending by local residents amid rising job uncertainties. That could cause total retail sales to bottom out at about HK$320 billion in 2020, returning the industry’s scale to what it was a decade ago in 2010, according to Knight Frank’s data, representing a new benchmark for annual retail sales for Hong Kong.