LONDON – Hermès on Thursday unveiled its second location in the provincial capital of Sichuan at the high-end luxury mall SKP Chengdu, a park-like sunken shopping complex designed by Sybarite.
A 25-minute drive from its store within the shopping complex Taikoo Li, the two-floor unit is located in the heart of the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, a new part of town south of the traditional city center, where luxury apartments and flashy skyscrapers are being built at a lightning speed.
The new Hermès store at SKP Chengdu
Sui Sicong/Courtesy of Hermès
Neighboring Louis Vuitton, the Hermès location at SKP Chengdu comes with a façade design that allows the store to open towards the exterior and let in the natural light, filtered by openwork panels. Made of glass and stone, the surface alternates between transparency and the darker pattern of the stone, evoking marble weaving, which is inspired by centuries-old local know-how, according to the brand.
At the two entrances of the store facing K Avenue, where all major luxury flagships are located within SKP Chengdu, the floor is made of terrazzo tiles in bright colors and includes the brand’s traditional Faubourg pattern.
The new Hermès store at SKP Chengdu
Sui Sicong/Courtesy of Hermès
The ground floor offers men’s ready-to-wear, shoes, bags, small leather goods, and silk, as well as equestrian accessories and homeware collections.
The back wall of the staircase, which leads to the women’s-focused first floor, is covered with wicker weaving, a homage to Sichuan’s traditional bamboo craftsmanship. The fashion jewelry corner is surrounded by a pink enameled ceramic wall as well as beauty, and fragrances.
The private lounge comes with a special textile that was added to the stucco finish bearing traces of ginkgo colors, and the carpets are adorned with curves and flowery patterns, which add color to the beige, structured stucco walls at the entrance.
The new Hermès store at SKP Chengdu
Sui Sicong/Courtesy of Hermès
In terms of in-store artworks, there is a shawl design by the Chinese artist Tong Ren, as well as pieces from the Émile Hermès collection. The staircase area boasts illustrations of big cats and owls by the French artist Paul Jouve.
The SKP Chengdu location is the brand’s 33rd outpost in mainland China, a region that logged a 10.2 percent growth in sales in the third quarter of 2023.
Despite high youth unemployment and the looming real estate crisis in China, Eric Du Halgouet, executive vice president of finance at Hermès, brushed off any talk of headwinds during a recent earnings call, viewing them as short-term issues that didn’t affect the company’s view that “potential for development continues to be very strong in the medium and long term.”