MILAN — Bulgari is getting as serious about calfskin as it is about diamonds, as it continues to roll out accessories-only stores.
The Roman jeweler spent the summer remodeling its store on Via della Spiga here to focus on the company’s fast-growing accessories business. Bulgari’s accessories sales were $98 million in fiscal year 2005, up 24 percent from 2004. First-half accessories revenues for 2006 were $60.5 million, a 32 percent increase over the same period last year. The store reopened last week.
The space became available in May when Bulgari relocated its fine jewelry to a bigger and better boutique on Via Montenapoleone.
Luminous and light, the 1,620-square-foot store was conceived in-house to make the accessories the centerpiece. Women’s accessories — bags, small leather goods, eyewear created under a license with Luxottica Group, fragrances and scarves — take up the ground floor; the mezzanine is dedicated to men’s products. Materials used in the design include maple and pear wood, frosted glass, steel and leather.
This is Bulgari’s first accessories-only store in Europe, though the company recently opened accessories outposts in Washington, D.C.; Tokyo; Osaka, Japan; Shanghai; Seoul, and Bangkok. A Bulgari accessories store will open in Florence in December and in Rome in 2007. More units in the U.S. and Europe are possibilities.
Bulgari is exploring a new concept of twin stores for sites that have at least 2,500 square feet of retail space, which would be divided into two boutiques. They would share the same ambience, but one would be dedicated to accessories and the other to fine jewelry and watches.
“Accessories are still a contained business for us, but certainly one poised to grow and full of potential, which is why we’re opening dedicated shops,” said Francesco Trapani, Bulgari’s chief executive officer.
Prior to the redesign of the store here, Bulgari’s accessories shared the selling floor with jewelry. According to Trapani, though, the space wasn’t adequate for showcasing a wider assortment of bags or to give the products the right visibility. “Plus, traffic in a jewelry store is always limited,” he added.
Putting quality first and foremost, the in-house team designs bags that balance classic styles with fashion-forward ones. Trapani said logoed canvas and hardware etched with the “Bulgari Bulgari” logo were distinctive traits that set the bags apart.
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Highlights of the spring 2007 collection include a teal blue shopping bag with a “Bulgari Bulgari” mother-of-pearl buckle, a small canvas style with lizard insets and a white pleated rigid-frame shoulder bag.
Retail prices range from $1,300 for a canvas and leather style to $2,800 for canvas and lizard silhouettes. There will also be one-of-a-kind bags, such as a 24-carat gold-coated crocodile evening bag.
Other accessories include key chains retailing for $127, sunglasses that sell for $248 to $611 and wallets that can go for up to $954 for a crystal-encrusted python style.