Over time Catherine Malandrino, Louis Vuitton and Prada have proven their staying power through tough economic times. There is another big dog here ready to move onto the porch. The 171 year old French house of Hermes is ready to open up a 2, 500 square foot retail store in the heart of San Diego’s Fashion Valley. Traditional wisdom may dictate pulling in the reserves in economic times like these, but Hermes is determined to withstand and expand. The San Diego store is only one of four slated to open in the states this year with the other three destined for Las Vegas, Denver, New York and Bellevue Washington of all places.
It isn’t as if Hermes hasn’t felt the economic hit of recent times which makes their opulent plans of expansion even more daring.
No expense will be spared on their new retail homes, even though they’ve had to scale down their sales projections this last year. The president of Hermes, USA, Robert Chavez appears more than confident that the Hermes expansion in the U.S. is going to go very well and believes that “People are still willing to make an investment in something that will last a long time.” Since Hermes has been around for over 170 years, I guess he can say that they do lasting power in the market.