Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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Lalique vase Grade-a ShopperS Boston's global student population excels not just at studying but at buying. by scott van voorhis Boston has always Been well-served By the luxury retail market. Chanel boasts a multilevel flagship store at the head of Newbury Street, Dolce & Gabbana recently opened a lavish shop, and the Hermès boutique just underwent a massive renovation and expansion. While well-heeled, born-and-bred Bostonians are surely loyal customers, also fueling the demand is a seemingly unlikely demographic: college students. These new scholars of luxury are not pizza-loving fraternity brothers but sophisticated (albeit underage) consumers born to some of the wealthiest families around the globe, from Saudi Arabia to China. "It's the one percent of the one percent—that very wealthy component has been the driving force," says Joe Baglio, a longtime luxury real estate broker, who recently sold a multimillion- dollar listing at the Clarendon to an international student. "Everyone is under 30, healthy, and well-dressed, and they're mostly from other parts of the world." By some estimates, international students and their parents are among the leading buyers of luxury goods and services in Boston, constituting anywhere from 30 percent to more than 50 percent of customers at the growing number of luxury retail establishments in the Back Bay and beyond, industry experts say. Chinese students and tourists have emerged as the ultimate luxury power shoppers on the local scene. A 2012 survey by China Luxury Advisors found that nearly a third of Chinese students in Boston and New York are on an almost continual shopping spree, picking up luxury goods every quarter to take home with them. Their parents and Chinese tourists are heating up the cash registers at Neiman Marcus, Anne Fontaine, and other luxury retail stores during their stays here, with the Chinese spending an average of $2,039 each trip, compared with $459 for tourists from the UK. Of course, the luxury boutiques along Newbury Street and at The Heritage on the Garden and the Copley Place mall are also attracting well-to-do students and tourists from other parts of Asia as well as South America and the Middle East. Saudi students often have an especially large spending allowance, with the government paying for certain degree programs and providing a monthly stipend, even before mom and dad contribute, according to Baglio, who owns Back Bay Residential. Parents of Saudi and Kuwaiti students are particular fans of Anne Fontaine, where floor-length skirts in the Les Precieuses collection can run from $ 695 to $1,100, says Amanda Blynn, the general manager. "Their eye is drawn to the more refined, luxurious, one-of-a-kind pieces." Motivated in part by thriving sales due to these affluent foreign students, Boston's luxury retailers are investing in expansion. This summer, Hermès nearly tripled its space (and added a second floor) when it opened fancier digs at The Heritage on the Garden. Anne Fontaine's Boston store, which moved into a new space in The Heritage last year, is consistently one of the company's top four performers nationally, notes Blynn. Tiffany & Co. has relocated to the Taj Hotel, and Neiman Marcus is preparing to add another 15,000 square feet of retail space. Meanwhile, Ronald Druker, the longtime Boston developer who built The Heritage, is planning to develop a boutique office and retail building nearby at 350 Boylston that should attract more top-shelf brands to Boston. Interest from retailers has been so strong that Druker decided to add a second floor of shopping to the project. "There are so many luxury retailers who want to expand in the city but can't find the space," he says. "The upscale luxury retail market is really quite hot in Boston." "It's the one percent of the one percent—that very wealthy component has been the driving force." — joe baglio ibility, and follow-through on these topics, because they're going to get more and more important as the customer gets younger and younger. BC: Another aspect of sustainability is an approach we started taking 10 years ago of buying small artisan [busi- nesses] where the craft itself was in danger of becoming extinct. I think many of you have done the same thing. Mr. Lagerfeld creates the Métiers d'art collection once a year—that only uses those fve to six specialist houses. When we think about sustainability long-term—and for all of us, the story of our brand is so much tied to what is unique and special—giving these people a lifeline, if you will, to con- tinue their craft is what it's about as well. BC "All brands are searching for ways to be relevant to the millennials." —maz zouhair i, ceo and pr esident, lalique north amer ica bostoncommon-magazine.com 109