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Cartier’s new boutique at Istanbul Airport.
The greatest Cartier boutique to grace the world vacation retail channel has opened at Istanbul Airport just as tourism is rebounding across Europe—and as Turkey woos Russians to holiday vacation there. The French brand’s amazing place, all 1,400 sq. toes of it, also has a 40-foot gold facade on an outward-experiencing corner posture, creating it seen from a length.
Cartier has partnered with the joint venture of Gebr. Heinemann, Unifree Responsibility Free and ATÜ Responsibility No cost, to open up the boutique, which sits in the airport’s luxurious watches and jewellery zone. It is flanked by Omega on just one facet and area jeweler Atasay, on the other.
The arrival of a Cartier retail outlet of this dimensions is really a coup for Istanbul Airport. The Turkish hub presently has a swathe of prime-close branded boutiques such as Bottega Veneta, Bulgari Celine, Christian Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Saint Laurent in an spot dubbed ‘luxury hill’.
Cartier provides more cachet. ATÜ Duty Totally free CEO Ersan Arcan commented: “We regard the existence of Cartier at Istanbul Airport—one of the very first names that comes to intellect among elite world brands—as an essential progress for (our) boutique retailing.”
Jan Richter, Heinemann’s director of acquiring for manner, accessories watches and jewellery, extra: “Cartier is one of the major three luxurious makes in the world. It stands for legendary watches and jewellery that are handed down from generation to era.” Iconic pieces consist of its Tank and Santos watches the Trinity Ring designed by Louis Cartier in 1924 and the Juste Un Clou bracelet uncovered in 1971 in New York. An ‘Icon Bar’ in the center of the new keep showcases some of the most renowned goods.
Cartier’s traditional Juste Un Clou bracelets and ring.
For today’s luxurious shoppers at the airport, the solution blend also includes new and modern traces this kind of as Clash De Cartier and present day interpretations of classics like Santos, in buy to appeal to a young demographic. The entrance space highlights parts from the present-day collection, as perfectly as leather items, perfumes and sunglasses.
Turkey invitations Russians in
So why choose Istanbul for its largest airport retail outlet, and why now? The unit was, in simple fact, planned a though in the past but postponed simply because of the pandemic. Contract negotiations with Cartier were sooner or later finalized in 2021. The brand name has been actively constructing its existence in Turkey according to Cartier’s Turkey & Levant taking care of director Nicolas Martin, when the airport boutique makes certain visibility nicely past the area.
Fortuitously, from a gross sales point of view, Cartier will also gain from Turkey’s choice to disregard NATO sanctions ensuing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, by encouraging Russians to vacation to Turkey immediate. Turkish Airlines extra extra than 300 flights to Russia just before the summer time according to the i newspaper.
Grand entrance: A visually desirable, modern store from Cartier.
Vacationers will possible be abundant, and eager obligation-totally free consumers. Nevertheless, presented how remarkably secure the Russian economic system has been due to the fact the war towards Ukraine broke out in February, despite sanctions—and with the ruble soaring yet again against most currencies including the Turkish lira—middle class Russians could also be checking out the Cartier boutique at Istanbul Airport.
It is ironic that Cartier could gain in this way. The brand’s operator, Switzerland-centered luxury conglomerate Richemont—chaired by South African billionaire Johann Rupert—along with Gucci proprietor Kering, pulled out of the Responsible Jewellery Council in March mainly because of its continuing ties to Russia at the time.
In Richemont’s fiscal year 21/22 ending March, the company’s determination to suspend business pursuits in Russia—which accounts for less that 2% of team sales—led to a damaging affect of €168 million ($169 million, nowadays) on the company’s functioning result.
Above FY21/22, Richemont’s jewellery houses—Buccellati, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels— sent what the group referred to as “a step-transform in performance” with merged revenue exceeding €11 billion. The two Cartier’s and Van Cleef & Arpels’ performances ended up described as “outstanding”, encouraging to increase their current market leadership.
Again at Istanbul Airport, even with out significant-expending Russians, the hub was persistently attracting international passengers and soaring up the airport rankings in the course of the pandemic. Vital nationals came from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
As a connecting gateway for Turkish Airlines, which stored a great deal of its route network open via the Covid-19 disaster, Istanbul jumped from 14th position in 2019, to sixth in 2020 and second in 2021 guiding Dubai Worldwide, transporting 26.5 million travellers (all dependent on Airports Council Global details). Past yr, traffic at the airport overtook key Western European airport retail hubs like Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol airports.
Luxury’s resilience
“The luxurious section has verified to be incredibly resilient all through the Covid-19 crisis,” mentioned Heinemann’s Richter. “Because of the intrinsic and long lasting worth of a precious piece of jewelry, it is desirable to customers. At Istanbul Airport, which was open when quite a few other airports were shut, luxurious manufacturers executed previously mentioned common.”
Not astonishingly, Heinemann is heading to proceed tapping luxury’s rich seam and as element of that system it is strengthening its collaboration with major luxury models worldwide, Cartier getting just a single case in point, as the long listing of high-end makes over implies.
