A candy store for the rich & pampered

Frankly, I have never seen anything like it.

Louis Vuitton is like the Willy Wonka of luxury, and the Louis Vuitton Maison is like a candy store for the rich, spoiled and pampered.

Just two weeks ago, members of the Asian press were invited to the opening of the newest Louis Vuitton Maison, or 1,600-sq.m. Asia-Pacific flagship house at the Landmark Central in Hong Kong.

"It’s sort of a jewelry box for all our new product territories like ready-to-wear, watches, shoes, jewelry, and now sunglasses," explained Louis Vuitton Malletier CEO and chairman Yves Carcelle. "We have ready-to-wear and shoe collections for men and women. A full floor dedicated to men downstairs. A full floor dedicated to women upstairs."

Of course, let’s not forget the trunks, travel bags, and the handbags.

The Maison boasts the world’s longest bag bar that is quite famous in the Louis Vuitton universe, selling handbags and small leather goods in a mouthwatering showcase.

In fact, there are two of them at the Landmark store. There is a prominent bag bar at the entrance and another at the rear floor.

I swear, there they were, out to impress the day we were there. I saw the most number of Louis Vuitton bags ever in one space, including the bags of the members of the press, the bags carried by the chic Louis Vuitton ladies, and all the bags on display. My feeling is, if it’s not at the Landmark, it’s probably not in Hong Kong, because this store is so complete.

Oprah, shop here!

Adding to all that is the first Louis Vuitton VIP room in Hong Kong, with a private bathroom on the second floor. This is where we held an intimate chat with Carcelle (see box). The VIP room was especially built for the Maison’s top clientele that requires "a higher level of privacy and seclusion."

A watch and jewelry room connects to an upper private salon by a suspended stainless-steel staircase. With a separate street entrance to Pedder Street, this intimate salon becomes an exclusive pocket within the Maison.

Opened in 1982 and expanded in 1998, Louis Vuitton at the Landmark Central has grown with Hong Kong’s increasing appetite for luxury goods.

The latest renovation turns the store into one of four Louis Vuitton Maisons in the world, including the one recently unveiled at 101 Avenue Champs-Elysées in Paris, Omotesando in Tokyo, and One East 57th Street in New York.

Each year, Louis Vuitton invests 200 million euros worldwide, opening an average of 15 stores around the globe. "We renovate and expand 55 to 60 stores a year. Altogether we have 70 projects worldwide," said Carcelle.

The transformation of the Landmark store has been the talk of Hong Kong since March, when a mammoth 46-by-8-meter Monogram Canvas trunk with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s Cerises (cherries) print was created to barricade the site.

To execute this amazing facelift, Louis Vuitton contracted a collaboration between two world-renowned architects.

Japanese architect Jun Aoki created a fantastic façade using a series of 7,000 stainless-steel louvered blades behind a special glass wall, both imported from Austria. A novel LED lighting system was built in to transform the façade into an illuminated cascade at night.

American architect Peter Marino transformed the inner space into three distinctive levels. He says he is happiest with the staircases which are "quite revolutionary in itself." Built-in LED panels are on each step, projecting changing images of commissioned art on the glass staircase.

"The fascinating staircase reflects the ceiling and creates a permanent animation in the store, putting you in different moods in the different moments of the day," said Carcelle.

Chinese Market

The positioning of the Maison at the Landmark is very important to Louis Vuitton as Greater China is their third largest clientele, next to Japan (first) and the US (second), said Serge Brunschwig, managing director of Louis Vuitton Malletier.

"Hong Kong is very important to Louis Vuitton. It’s the cornerstone of our strategy in the last 26 years, when we opened our first store in the Peninsula in 1979. Our expansion of the Peninsula store is almost finished and we are opening in January 2006.

"In 1982, we opened at Landmark a small store at the corner, which is now a little bit of today’s façade. At that time, nobody really considered Hong Kong a travel retail destination like Paris, New York or Tokyo.

"Now, we are enjoying a fantastic market with six stores in Hong Kong. Central is now one of the world’s leading addresses for luxury and one of the top locations in the world for retailing," Brunschwig said.