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Simon Parry
Simon Parry

Opinion | Hong Kong’s landlords and luxury labels – why I don’t feel sorry for either

  • Exorbitant rents may be forcing Louis Vuitton to close its store in Times Square
  • But in the cradle of capitalism, new clients are already lining up to fill the void left behind

Reading Time:2 minutes
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That major international brands have announced closures amid Hong Kong’s protests and now the coronavirus elicits little sympathy in some corners. Illustration: Mario Riviera
Simon Parry
So farewell then, Louis Vuitton. The purveyor of hideous, overpriced creamy-brown accessories for people with more money than taste is reportedly slamming shut the doors on its shop in Times Square, Causeway Bay, after failing to secure a reduction in its estimated HK$5 million monthly rent.
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Honestly, how vulgar and gauche of LV to quibble over money. Why should it expect to pay less just because Hong Kong, exhausted after months of unrest, now finds itself grappling with a deadly coronavirus, and as other luxury brands have also seen their sales plunge?

And why on earth should landlords be expected to share the burden simply because the city has been going through its biggest upheaval in a generation? After all, it’s not as if they can be held to blame in any way for the appalling inequalities that have riven society asunder.

As anyone who has ever tried to negotiate with a Hong Kong landlord knows, they are imperiously immune not only to logic and reality but also to human suffering. Not out of sheer greed, you understand, but for a nobler cause – because to succumb to mankind’s frailty would undermine confidence in Hong Kong’s illusory prosperity and resilience.

Plus, they know that someone else – however disreputable and menacing – is always lurking in the wings and prepared to pay their preposterous rents. So, if the preening French fashion chain seriously thinks its former landlords will regret their intransigence, it couldn’t be more wrong. Potential new clients are already circling – and they are even bigger names than LV.

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