The luxury industry’s rocky road over the past few months has prompted questions about the end of the “roaring 20s”—the period during the COVID-19 pandemic when sales skyrocketed, thanks to homebound shoppers splurging on expensive clothes, handbags, and more. But some while luxury brands navigate a slowdown, others are simultaneously gearing up to grow their retail space in the world’s top shopping hubs.
French group Kering, the brand behind luxury houses like Gucci, Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, is investing a whopping $963 million in prime New York City property, the company said in a press release Monday.
“With this transaction, Kering acquires exceptional retail locations on one of the world’s most iconic avenues,” Kering said in the statement. “This investment represents a further step in Kering’s selective real estate strategy, aimed at securing key highly desirable locations for its Houses.”
The property will span 115,000 square feet (10,700 square meters), and will be located on Manhattan’s famed Fifth Avenue, across from Trump Tower. Some of the other high-end retailers located in the vicinity include Cartier, Louis Vuitton, and Tiffany & Co.
The François-Henri Pinault–led company has also purchased other key properties in Paris and Tokyo in recent years.
Kering not alone
Kering is joining some of its luxury rivals in grabbing retail property in New York and elsewhere in the U.S.—jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels (owned by Richemont) said it was opening new locations on Manhattan’s Madison Avenue, while Chanelreopened its flagship store in the upmarket Los Angeles area of Beverly Hills. And Prada made two purchases worth $835 million combined last month, Bloomberg reported.
Kering declined to comment on the new real estate acquisition.
Indeed, luxury retailers are snapping up property at stunning rates—they’ve leased 650,000 square feet of space in the U.S. in the 12 months to September, marking a roughly 160% increase compared with a year earlier, according to a report by real estate investment firm JLL.
The bet on retail real estate could potentially pay off as people come back to physical stores to supplement their shopping needs alongside buying online. Retail properties promise to be a “stalwart” through 2024, a senior Moody’s economist told Fortune earlier this month, even as other sectors continue to recover.
Revenue slump
These big purchases by luxury players come at a time when the industry is seeing its wealthy customers pull back on spending, the impact of which has trickled down to the sales of these brands. Kering’s revenue was down 9% on a comparable basis for the third quarter, with contractions in Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent sales.
To be sure, the U.S. has been a bright spot for some brands, as Europe struggles to clock in sales like it did in earlier years. Take Richemont, for instance—sales in the Americas region (which includes North and South America) saw 8% growth in the third quarter of 2023, compared with the same time a year earlier. That’s in contrast with a 3% decline in Europe for that period.
The trend isn’t universal, though. Makeup chain Sephora, owned by LVMH, saw strong growth in North America in the third quarter, although demand for the French conglomerate’s wine and spirits as well as fashion and leather goods segments remained weak through the first half of last year. British trench-coat maker Burberry also saw comparable store sales in its third quarter decline the most in the Americas compared with the same time in 2022.
The signs are mixed in the luxury space as they point to a slowing pace of growth while also hinting at a revival of Chinese luxury demand—which could fuel sales. Luxury bellwether LVMH is set to release results Thursday, which could indicate the path forward for the rest of the industry as 2024 unfolds.
