Hong Kong-owned British luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols is to shut its Landmark store in Hong Kong’s Central after the end of this year, its parent company Dickson Concepts said in a statement.
Explaining the move, the group’s executive chairman, Dickson Poon, said Chinese tourists coming to Hong Kong are no longer as focused on shopping as they used to be before the pandemic and it was evidenced by weaker-than-expected retail spending during the all-important Golden Week holidays in May and October.
“The above factors, coupled with locals increasingly travelling abroad during the holiday seasons means there is no longer a need to operate multiple large-scale department stores in close proximity,” said Poon.
The chairman said the group will focus Harvey Nichols’s activities on the Pacific Place store.
“We believe that this strategic decision will enable us to consolidate and further build our local customer base at Pacific Place while significantly reducing our cost base which should have an even greater positive impact on our bottom line,” Poon said.
Dickson Concepts has reported a year-on-year increase of 26.1 per cent to HKD1 billion (US$128.2 million) in revenue for the six months ended September 30, despite weak consumer sentiment.
Net profit attributable to equity shareholders was HKD219.7 million ($28.18 million), up 41.5 per cent from HKD155.3 million ($20 million) last year. While sales in Taiwan grew by 8.5 per cent with an increase of 23.4 per cent in profits, the group’s sales in China were up by 32 per cent.
In August, Manju Malhotra, CEO of Harvey Nichols, was reported to be leaving her role at the end of this year after 25 years with the business. Pearson Poon, executive director of Harvey Nichols’ parent company Dickson Concepts, will oversee the business as vice chairman until a new CEO is found.
