US accessories and lifestyle label Coach Asia is remodelling its duty-free and travel retail stores to tie in with its new “modern luxury” concept, and is planning further expansion in the region.

The company says the aim is to provide a “warm and inviting” environment in which to showcase the latest products from Coach creative director Stuart Vevers.

“The performance of the renovated stores has been very strong, and the concept has been extremely well received by the Asian consumer,” Coach International division vice-president of sales Paulo Colino told TR Business.

“We are pleased with the progress we have made updating the stores and expect to have nearly half of our shops in the region remodelled by the summer of next year.”

Coach has nearly 80 shops spread over 15 countries, including airport and cruise-ship locations.
Key stores for the renovation include DFS and China Duty Free in Siem Reap, Ginza with Lotte in Tokyo, Kansai Airport with JatCo, Hongqiao Wing 5 with Dufry and Kunming Airport with Lagardere TR, Phuket downtown with King Power, Sentosa Plaza with Valiram in Singapore, and Sunplaza and Chinachem with DFS in Hong Kong.

“Given the success we have seen in this region, we plan to expand into additional countries in Asia, including India and Myanmar,” says Colino.

Coach is now a quarter way through the refit program.