Auction house Sotheby’s has opened its first retail store in Asia.
The auctioneer has opened a wine shop in Sotheby’s Hong Kong Gallery in One Pacific Place, Admiralty, offering 700 different wines including the 12-liter bottle of Haut-Brion 2000 priced at HK$280,000 (US$36,124).
The Hong Kong shop is its second retail store in the world after the one in New York. The shop is complemented with English and Chinese e-commerce site, offering a next-day delivery.
“We are excited to expand our reach in the increasingly sophisticated and knowledgeable Asian wine market. We have strong relationships with the worlds’ top winemakers, as well as with collectors throughout Asia, so we are uniquely placed to help wine lovers get the most out of one of life’s greatest pleasures,” said Jamie Ritchie, Sotheby’s Wine CEO.
The US-listed company has been auctioning wine in Hong Kong since 2009. It says Hong Kong accounted for around 43 per cent of its US$57.9 million global auction sales in 2013.
“We have had tremendous success in Hong Kong with our live auction business, selling HK$1.4 billion (US$184 million) of wines over the past four years and we have seen significant demand from buyers wanting to buy wines of the same quality with the same high level of service, but at a fixed price and available for next day delivery,” he said.
