Louis Vuitton to Open First Flagship Store in Hainan, China’s Duty-free Island
SHANGHAI — Louis Vuitton, the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned French luxury house, is entering the Hainan market with a two-story flagship store at MixC Haikou, a high-end shopping mall in the duty-free island‘s capital city.
According to MixC Haikou’s official Xiaohongshu account, a recent post titled “Hello @Louis Vuitton” unveiled a new hoarding spanning two floors, featuring Louis Vuitton’s latest campaign highlighting its custom-made trunks captured by Viviane Sassen in a Chilien desertscape.
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A spokesperson for Louis Vuitton declined to comment on the store opening details.
Despite local media speculation, Louis Vuitton’s first Hainan flagship will not participate in the duty-free channels currently favored by tourists.
As the third-tier city’s first upscale shopping mall, MixC Haikou opened last June in downtown Haikou. MixC is developed by the state-owned real estate giant China Resources Land, a Hong Kong-listed company.
To boost the onshore duty-free market, Hainan will establish an independent customs system in 2025, which means shoppers will be able to purchase luxury goods without paying customs duty on the tropical island.
The MixC Haikou store opening will mark Louis Vuitton’s latest venture into a lower-tiered city in China.
In the past year, Louis Vuitton opened stores in second- and third-tier cities such as Fuzhou, Guiyang and Nanning. At the same time, the luxury powerhouse continued to expand and test out new retail formats in first-tier cities, including opening expansive VIP salons at Shanghai’s Plaza 66 and SKP in Beijng, a restaurant called The Hall at Chengdu’s Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li, and a showroom to showcase its furniture collection Objets Nomades at Shanghai’s historic Zhangyuan Shikumen compound.
In 2008, the company’s first foray into Hainan island was a shop at the Sanya Ritz-Carlton Hotel, a tourist destination in Hainan. The store later folded in 2015.
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