French fashion house Louis Vuitton has planned to shut its shop in the protest-ridden Hong Kong.
The ongoing protests have been responsible for plummeting demands as rental costs bite, as reported by the South China Post newspaper.
The luxury brand is present in 8 locations as per its website and is preparing to shut the Times Square Mall store. The decision follows a failed negotiation with the landlord regarding cutting the store rent.
The anti-government demonstrations have hit the demands of many high-end fashion brands in one of the most popular shopping destinations in the world.
Tourism slumped resulting in heavy retail losses every since the third-quarter earnings.
According to Government data, Hong Kong’s retail sales slumped by 23.6 per cent from a year earlier in November to US $ 3.85 billion in the tenth consecutive month of declines.
Although brands had temporarily closed some stores when the protests flared up, they are now looking at other viable locations in Asia and the Chinese Mainland where the sales have been good enough to make up for the losses in Hong Kong.
Other luxury competitors that are plagued by the high rents and falling demands are Moncler or Gucci-owner Kering who are in the process of vigorous negotations regarding rents.
