Luxury stores open in Paris that’s empty of tourists as France eases coronavirus lockdown restrictions
- Luxury Parisian shops are testing customers’ appetite for splashing out on goods again, though the dearth of international tourists remains a major drag
- Brands used new hygiene routines, with Louis Vuitton steaming clothes tried on and quarantining handbags; Christian Dior erected Plexiglas shields at tills
As France began to exit its strict coronavirus lockdown, many of its luxury brands also opened their doors, giving sanitary protocols a makeover and testing people’s appetite for splurging after a shutdown that has rocked economies worldwide.
At Louis Vuitton’s store on Paris’s grand Place Vendome square, which sells everything from €645 (US$700) cocktail shakers to jewellery worth hundreds of thousands, a few local clients kept business ticking over.
“It’s a friend’s birthday and we’re buying her a wallet,” said Paris resident Hajar. “It’ll be the first time we’ve seen each other in two months.”
At the Hermes shop on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, there was even a semblance of business as usual. A shop assistant discreetly kept count of the number of people milling around at any one time – around 50 at one point in early afternoon, across two floors. And one shopper said she had been told to make an appointment if she wanted to discuss buying a pricey “Kelly” handbag.