Chanel’s first VIP boutique to open in Asia – will it be in Seoul?

A couple of months ago, media outlets reported Chanel plans to open stores solely for VIP shopping in Asia.

The French label is widely expected to open private boutiques to serve its top-spending clients from early next year. 

Industry insiders in South Korea are hopeful the Korean capital could be home to the first such establishment, despite being sandwiched between two much bigger markets for luxury fashion. 

Chanel is reportedly hiring more than 3,500 new employees to prevent people from lining up in front of the store and to double down on its image as being on top of the luxury fashion house ecosystem. 

“Even though a Chinese city is a more likely candidate to host the first Chanel VIP boutique, I would not rule out the possibility of a Korean city hosting it, given frequent COVID-19 containment measures by Beijing,” an industry insider told The Korea Economic Daily. 

Experts say Chanel has chosen to set itself apart from the likes of Louis Vuitton and Gucci to join the ranks of the uber-selective fashion houses such as Hermes. 

Chanel led the European luxury labels’ string of price hikes during the pandemic. 

The Paris-based fashion house increased its prices four times last year; in February, July, August and November. 

Its iconic classic medium flap bag currently costs 11.8 million won ($8,961), a whopping 65% increase from November 2019. 

Thanks to the price hikes, Chanel’s revenue jumped 55% to $15.6 billion last year. More than half of the figure came from the Asia Pacific region. 

Write to Jeong-Cheol Bae at bjc@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.