Black Friday nerves as world’s biggest shopping streets put on a show and hope for the best this Christmas, amid tourist drought that’s hit sales hard
- Shops on London’s Bond Street, from Cartier to Chanel, have their Christmas lights up, and will serve hot chocolate to those waiting to get into stores
- Tourists hoping to hit Hong Kong’s most expensive retail street for their seasonal shop have had hopes dashed by the delay of a travel bubble with Singapore
World-famous shopping districts are preparing – read bracing – for a holiday season unlike any they’ve ever seen.
With the coronavirus pandemic still raging in much of the world, many consumers are still wary of visiting stores. Travel restrictions will also slash the number of wealthy tourists normally relied upon to spend at this time of year.
Still, luxury stores are still putting forth their best socially distanced effort. They’re filling windows with Christmas displays in an effort to salvage a crucial holiday season after Covid-19 wreaked havoc on retailers from Tokyo in Japan to New York in the United States.
Here’s a look at what it’s like on the ground at these prominent thoroughfares as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the US that is seen as the start of the holiday shopping season, approaches.
Bond Street, London
“In the words of the queen, 2020 will certainly go down as one of the most annus horribilis” for retailers in the famed luxury shopping destination, said Katie Thomas, associate director of Bond Street and Mayfair at the New West End company, the organisation behind the street’s 600 retailers, restaurateurs, and hoteliers.