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Brand Name Goods

Did you notice a huge orange box in Ginza for about an year? That was the construction facade for the biggest Hermes shop in Japan, which finally opened on June 28. More than 1,000 people were waiting in line before the opening at 11:00am, including one 25-year-old woman who waited since 22:00 the night before!
The sale of such brand name goods slowed back in '97 due to the instability of the Asian economy, but it's been climbing back upwards record levels since '99. While it's amazing that people are willing to pay so much for such expensive goods, it's also amazing how much money these big brand names have been plunking down for Tokyo prime properties. For example, Cartier spent about JPY7bn to purchase their building in Ginza. Prada Japan paid about JPY6bn for land for a building they are constructing in Omote sando, and Hermes Japon paid JPY9bn for the new store in Ginza.
The top selling brand is Louis Vuitton and their sales result was JPY720bn for 1999, followed by Hermes at JPY23.65bn.
You have to wonder why Japanese young women get so excited by such expensive brand name goods...

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