According to today's Oriental Morning Post, a luxury bridal store in Shanghai has managed to sell its first gown just one month after opening in early November, beating the owner's expectations.
In that month, more than 30 couples have visited the store, which is the first shop on China's mainland owned by renowned Japanese gown designer and wedding planner Yumi Katsura.
The gown was sold for 34,000 yuan (US $4,111) to a Japanese man from Yokohama and his Chinese fiancee, according to Ye Yihua, the store's manager.
Ye said the young man was so surprised to find Yumi Katsura's store in China that he insisted his fiancee should try on a gown. The gown fit so well that the man was awestruck.
Ye has emailed Katsura to inform her of the deal. The Japanese designer was so excited that she said she might create specific gown designs for Shanghai if the local market is good.
The ice-breaking deal is good news for the luxury bridal store, which has been worried industry-wide over the highflying price labels since it opened.
Despite the sale, Ye is still cautious about the local market. She said the store has suspended the importing of nine gowns priced between 70,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan that it had ordered from Yumi Katsura's Japanese headquarters. "Unless we can sell at least two to three gowns each month, would we dare to import new designs," she reasoned.
Unlike most other wedding stores, all the gowns in this store are for sale rather than rental, each piece priced between 25,000 yuan and 40,000 yuan. These prices are high compared with local brides' budgets for their gowns. Most of these brides would prefer to rent gowns at local stores for about 300 yuan apiece.