The new Samsøe Samsøe store will arrive in Luxembourg's capital, following an online announcement by its Danish parent company. It is also recruiting a shop manager to manage the point of sale located at 79, Grand-Rue, formerly occupied by the MAC Cosmetics brand.
“Samsøe Samsøe should open next spring,” Marine Fetique, senior retail negotiator at Cushman & Wakefield told Delano's sister publication Paperjam. The 90m2 premises currently occupied by the SaKaNaNa pop-up store should within a few months give way to contemporary clothing, shoes and accessories store with a Scandinavian design.
The brand, which was launched in 1993 in Copenhagen, initially focused on jewellery, before branching out into high-end T-shirts and knitwear. Then, when it was taken over in 2000, it moved into a range of ready-to-wear clothing with an urban, minimalist, affordable and accessible style, according to its website.
From the Cloche d'Or to the upper town
A little higher up, at number 13 of the Grand-Rue, Les Ambassadeurs is already visible to passers-by, who will have to wait until next spring to discover the new window display of the Swiss brand in Luxembourg.
“The new Les Ambassadeurs concept is being worked on here in Luxembourg,” says its general manager Benoit Lecigne. The store will offer a new concept based on fine watches and jewellery, not forgetting after-sales service. The brand has high ambitions for this 660m2 outlet spread over three levels, compared to 553m2 for its first point of sale, which opened in 2019, in the Cloche d'Or shopping centre.
“Luxembourg has always been a hub for watch lovers and collectors, and we feel there is a big gap in the city centre. That's why Les Ambassadeurs is opening there,” says Lecigne.
Behind the store is Tempus Aquisition, a member of Flavio Becca's Promobe Finance holding company. In addition to Les Ambassadeurs, the company also runs the Omega flagship store, which opened last April on Rue Philippe II, as well as the Messika jeweller's boutique, which opened last month on Rue de la Poste.
At least four other new stores
“We have another project, including an opening, next spring, of a new 80m2 monobrand watch boutique,” confides Benoit Lecigne.
It has to be said that the end of the tram works and the relaxation of the sanitary measures linked to the covid-19 pandemic have boosted pedestrian flow in the centre of Luxembourg, particularly on Saturdays when local visitors mingle with tourists from neighbouring countries.
This has put a smile on the faces of shopkeepers and real estate agents after a period marked by a wave of closures in the capital's centre, including Ladurée, the Librairie Française, Pull&Bear and Zara. In addition to calls from the City of Luxembourg to find occupants for the , a series of new retailers have recently opened, including Ladurée, Bolia, Kujten, and also Bouncewear on the Grand-Rue, which is opening its first store in the Grand Duchy, explains agent Inowai, who led the operation.
The shoe store Sidestep is also expected to open by the end of the year, still in the Grand-Rue. Another real estate agent confirmed to Paperjam the arrival of a new store in the capital, without revealing its identity for the moment. In addition, the Royal-Hamilius centre is expecting new occupants such as Steffen and Post, which will be followed by other brands whose names are currently being kept secret. In short, the new shops are well on their way to becoming established next spring.
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.