China still has an appetite for luxury goods
BEIJING – Clutching a fistful of shopping bags from designers Vivienne Westwood, Dior and Alexander McQueen as she concluded one of her twice-monthly shopping sprees, 29-year-old Zhao Bing looked like the picture of hope for luxury retail.
“Is there a financial crisis in China? I don’t think it has affected my life very much,” said Zhao, who spent 7,000 yuan ($1,000) in 90 minutes at upscale Lane Crawford in Beijing’s financial district last week. “I still buy those big brands, anyone you could think of.”
Many well-heeled Chinese shoppers like Zhao, a film technician who gets an allowance from her parents on top of her salary, are spending freely during the global economic crisis. High-end designers and luxury retailers that thrive on such extravagance hope China’s growing luxury-seeking population will cushion them against the collapse in demand in other countries.