MOSCOW — Chloé opened its first boutique in Russia on Friday at the Crocus City Mall on the outskirts of the capital.
While the brand has been available in Russia since 1998 through multibrand boutiques, the opening represents a major push for Chloé into opening its own stores in the country. “Our policy now is to avoid overdistributing,” said Ralph Toledano, Chloé’s chairman and chief executive officer, at the opening ceremony, which offered champaign and caviar and boasted guests such as the famous Russian model Olga Pantushenkova.
The new Chloé boutique sells the main collection as well as See by Chloé, footwear and accessories.
“Six years ago, the Russian market was not organized, but now there are five serious distributors for fashionable garments here — Crocus, Mercury, JamilCo, Bosco di Ciliegi and Podium,” Toledano said. “We have signed the franchising agreement with Crocus as they had proved they have the same attitude to our brand as we do and have built this posh shopping mall in Moscow’s outskirts. Also, we sell Chloé in Podium and Chloé accessories in Articoli stores that belong to Bosco di Ciliegi.”
The Chloé store is part of the 620,000-square-foot Crocus City Mall in the suburbs of Moscow, which was opened two years ago and in which Crocus Group has invested a total of $60 million. The mall also is home to stores such as Sergio Rossi, Calvin Klein, JLo by Jennifer Lopez, Celine and the Versace Home Collection. The main shopping area in Moscow was, until recently, the downtown, but Crocus City Mall for upscale stores and two megamalls that are more democratic are signs that Russians are ready to travel to a specialized shopping area.
Emin Agalarov, co-owner of Crocus Group — which distributes in Russia brands such as Sergio Rossi, Celine, Ungaro, Les Copains, Charles Jourdan and Casadei — said the group has noticed that, for brands such as Ungaro, Casadei or Les Copains, three square feet of a store downtown make the same money as the same space in the Crocus City Mall. “In downtown, there are a lot of window-shoppers and here people come with one clear aim — to spend money,” he added.
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Next year, Crocus Group expects the Chloé brand to have sales of $2 million in Russia. Last year, Crocus had total sales of $300 million and Agalarov said it expects that to increase to $400 million in 2004. “In 2005, we plan some new openings, and a second Chloé boutique in downtown Moscow will be one of them,” he said.
“The Russian fashion market is very upscale and sophisticated and that’s what Chloé is,” Toledano said, adding Russia is now Chloé’s sixth-largest single market. “And I’m glad we are here, as the economy of this country became much more stable and mature, though the country is still very energetic.”