Bigger, Not More Ubiquitous, is Better, Says Hermes CEO

Luxury retailer hopes the new store will continue its success story in China

Six years after Hermes, Europe's third-largest luxury goods group, broke ground on its fifth global Maison by renovating a heritage building on Huaihai Road in Shanghai, the store opened on Sept 12 amid pomp and pageantry.

A phalanx of security guards and hostesses in black attire welcomed VIPs outside the four-story H-shaped building as limousines cruised up. Inside, about a dozen members of the Hermes family attended the "christening".