LUXURY ‘LINE-UP’
Boutiques employ queues amid shoplift fears
COVID-19 is waning, but shopping for a Louis Vuitton bag, a Chanel suit or a pair of Gucci loafers increasingly means standing in line outside a boutique — and luxury brands have been conspicuously tightlipped on why.
Most elite labels leaned into “appointment shopping” during the height of the pandemic, citing the need for social distancing. But as the threat from the virus recedes, some, including Cartier and Harry Winston, continue to impose the new policy.
They also have failed to convince shoppers and experts alike of their reasoning — if they bother to explain themselves at all. Major brands, including Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Cartier, didn’t respond to calls or emails from The Post about their persistent use of stanchions in front of store entrances, where queued-up shoppers are quizzed by “greeters” about prospective purchases before entering.
“We recommend booking an appointment prior to your boutique visit, as walkins may experience extended wait times,” Cartier’s website advises, without elaborating.
According to experts, roped-off customers can mostly thank a relentless epidemic of smash-andgrab robberies rather than social distancing for ramped-up crowd controls nationwide, including in New York, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle. Theft got so bad last year that Beverly Hills hired two private security firms to patrol Rodeo Drive.
Beefed-up security
Meanwhile, at the Westchester Mall in White Plains, where robbers ransacked a Louis Vuitton store in February, the boutique’s doors were closed, with stanchions inviting shoppers to queue up outside.
Greeters wearing headsets — flanked by a pair of beefy mall security guards — asked customers if they were there to pick up an order or to shop. Shoppers were let in only when an associate was ready to accompany them inside.
“They don’t want customers looking around the store without a store employee with them,” a sales associate told The Post.
Luxury brands have managed to obscure the embarrassment of the situation partly because making it difficult to enter their stores “creates an aura of exclusivity,” says Steve Dennis, a retail consultant.
“Most of these stores aren’t crowded anyway,” and the lines are getting longer in states like Texas, “which didn’t particularly take COVID seriously,” said Dennis.
“The new nightclub, in its own weird way, is getting into a Dolce & Gabbana store on a Saturday,” adds luxury retail consultant Melanie Holland.
Protecting clients
Last week, a Chanel executive provoked chatter when he disclosed that the company plans to open “private” boutiques in Asia next year for top clients.
“Our biggest preoccupation is to protect our customers and in particular our preexisting customers,” Chanel Chief Financial Officer Philippe Blondiaux told Business of Fashion. “We’re going to invest in very protected boutiques to service clients in a very exclusive way.”
In response, fashion blog Highsnobiety asked: “What, exactly, do Blondiaux and Chanel want to ‘protect’ its customers from?”
Holland speculated that Chanel may be looking to keep its wealthy clients from becoming targets for thieves after they leave stores. But big spenders also aren’t typically walking in off the street, she adds.
“People who want to spend $25,000 for a small dress don’t want to stand in line,” Holland said. “Those customers are probably making an appointment with their personal shopper — they know that line isn’t meant for them.”
Shadow reps
As previously reported by The Post, Madison Avenue boutiques, including Chanel, Prada and Carolina Herrera, are dimming their lights, locking their doors, and opening by appointment in a bid to deter a wave of brazen daytime shoplifters that have terrorized the glitzy thoroughfare this year.
In February, thieves strolled out of The Real Real on Madison at East 71st Street with nearly $500,000 worth of handbags and jewelry.
In the wake of such heists, there is simply a “new lack of trust” amid retailers “about who is walking through their doors,” said Susan Scafidi, founder and director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School.
In practice, most luxury brands assign a sales associate to each customer or group. The days of walking into an exclusive boutique and “browsing” without an associate shadowing you are largely over, said one sales rep.
Meanwhile, staffers at upscale boutiques, including Chanel, Gucci and Burberry, are being armed with talking points for inquisitive customers, some of which sound plausible.
“We are still dealing with shipping delays from Paris and you don’t want everyone to come in and to notice that the store doesn’t have the latest styles,” a sales associate at a boutique operated by a major luxury label told The Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“You want to be able to tell them one-on-one that the pieces are on the way,” the associate added.