Louis Vuitton Towson
Loyal readers, please allow us to formally introduce Andrea K. Walker to our merry band of Consuming Interests bloggers. We've referenced her stories about Baltimore area businesses frequently in the past, and now she's got a juicy bit of retail news to share:
Hi All. I’m Andrea K. Walker, retail reporter at The Sun, and I’m joining the consumer blog today. Luck would have it that there’s actually news on my first day.
Just as all of us are becoming tightwads given the state of the economy, the epitome of extravagance is coming to town. Louis Vuitton is trying to convince us to open our wallets just a little – okay maybe a lot at their prices – with a new Louis Vuitton store they’re opening at Towson Town Center Wednesday.
The store is the first in the Baltimore area. It may seem counterintuitive to open such a high-end store during such a tough time. A glance at the Louis website shows a wallet can run as much as $725. But Louis joins Lacoste and Burberry among stores that have already opened up in a new luxury wing Towson Town Center launched at the height of the economic downturn.
General Growth, the mall’s owner, said the wing was planned well before the recession. And they think that shoppers will eventually splurge on luxury goods once the economy turns.
I myself felt like ...
... an intruder just walking through the Burberry store when it first opened – as if the salespeople were saying to themselves, “you know you can’t afford anything in here.” I’d probably suffer from similar anxiety walking through the Louis store. So, I probably won’t shop there as much as I wish I could.
But what about the rest of you guys? Do you plan on making a trip to the Louis Vuitton store? Is this the right time to be promoting such extravagance? Or is this what Baltimore needs to put us up there with other cities?
Comments
Even when I'm in city that has a LV store, I don't go in. Honestly, what the heck do I need a $725 wallet for? I can't afford it, so why even look? Just teasing myself...
BaltBabs, I'm right there with you. I like to consider cost-per-use when it comes to an expensive item, but that ratio for LV is still too steep for my tastes. --- lfk.
Posted by: BaltBabs | July 6, 2009 4:08 PM
I think this is will eventually put Towson mall on the map. The luxury wing certainly separates Towson mall and their closest competitors (Columbia and Annapolis) as far as luxury offerings. Although I won't flock to the LV store (I make LV purchases through the website) its nice to see malls in the Baltimore area evolve. My suggestions for the future would be to close Macy's and replace it with a Bloomies (I relish the fact I have to travel to Montgomery County) and add two more upscale restaurants. My only worries to this is that it may attract more thugs a la Arundel Mills to seek out affluent mall patrons as targets for robbery.
Posted by: JC | July 6, 2009 8:22 PM
There are a lot of drug dealers in Baltimore so they will so just fine
Posted by: Roots | July 6, 2009 8:51 PM