shes that the opening and ongoing makeover of one of the country’s oldest and most celebrated department stores is “redefining the shopping experience”, what she could more meaningfully have said, “Part of the store has been renovated and houses new luxury tenants, it looks great and we are really proud of it.” Then she would have been exactly right.  The new three-level, 8000sqm Luxe Galerie at Central Chidlom in downtown Bangkok is a nice job and does a lot to modernise a store that was beginning to flirt with obsolescence.   Fifty and counting Central Chidlom, located on Phloen Chit Road near the commercial heart of the city, first opened way back in 1973. At the time, it was a unique and unparalleled shopping destination in a city that was a retail backwater, nowhere near as sophisticated in terms of its retail offer as it is today. (MBK Centre didn’t arrive until 1985 and Central World didn’t open until 1989.) But time takes its toll. As Bangkok’s affluent professional class grew and the capital spruced up its credentials as an elite tourist destination, the competition emerged, caught up, and overtook Central Chidlom. The department store huffed and puffed, but its status was clearly under threat. Then, in 1995, an electrical fire caused heavy damage. (It was rumoured to be arson, a possibility that cannot be discounted, although it was never proved.)   The department store was rebuilt and started over, but with world-class shopping centres sprouting on its flanks in a dazzling ribbon that cuts through the heart of the city from Emquartier in the east to Siam Discovery in the west, Central Chidlom again began to look and feel like just another old department store.  Enter Luxe Galerie Luxe Galerie, of which three levels are now open, will be finished by the end of the year. But what a difference it already makes. The floors that have been unveiled already make a sparkling addition to the department store and transport it firmly into the 2020s, making its new company-coined moniker, “Store of Bangkok”, only just a teeny-weeny exaggeration. To be sure, it redefines nothing, although it does a good job of mimicking some of the brilliant design features of Siam Discovery and Siam Paragon just down the road. Central Chidlom has, for sure, raised its own bar.  The brands in Luxe Galerie are a who’s-who of luxury, laid out in a breathable open plan that contrasts with the often charmless siloing of boutiques in many luxury precincts. On the first floor, the brands include Versace, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Emilio Pucci, Kenzo, Loewe, Missoni, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana Casa. Most impressive and spanning the length of one side of the floor is ‘Shoes Avenue’, a superb showcasing of luxury footwear brands, including Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Christian Louboutin, Coperni, Cult Gaia, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Rene Caovilla and Roger Vivier. In the centre of Shoes Avenue is a circular bar where visitors can sit and enjoy a glass of wine and soak up the atmosphere.  On the second floor is Sneakers Boulevard & Streetwear Studio, oriented toward fashion for younger customers. Central states that Sneakers Boulevard has more than 800 pairs to choose from. It offers special editions and collaborations with popular brands like Vans, Converse, Mizuno, and Revenge x Storm.  Topping things off (at least so far), the third floor is called Contemporary Fashion and offers a trendy collection of brands like Coperni, CP Company, Jacquemus, JW Anderson, Rhude, and Zimmermann, among others.  To make sure the message wasn’t missed, Central Chidlom feted the opening of Luxe Galerie with a ‘Luxe Night Out’ soiree featuring high-profile fashion celebs who mixed and mingled on the three levels.  Central is going strong on fashion Central Chidlom is a subsidiary of Central Retail, which operates 86 department stores, including the Rinascente luxury chain in Italy. Central Retail is a sibling company of Central Pattana, Thailand’s premier mall operator with 41 malls dotted around the country, anchored, naturally, by Central Department Stores. Both companies sit within the Central Group.  Fashion has been a real strong point for Central Retail for some time and in the first quarter of this year, its total sales in the category crossed a key threshold: it was the first quarter in which sales exceeded the same quarter in 2019. (For Rinascente in far away Italy, first-quarter sales were 5 per cent above the same quarter of 2019.) On a purely year-on-year basis, fashion sales grew by 8 per cent from the first quarter of last year (+7 per cent in Thailand and +14 per cent in Italy), with overall same-store sales growth of 2 per cent (flat in Thailand and up 9 per cent in Italy). For Central Retail as a whole, sales for the first quarter were 6 per cent above the same quarter a year ago. That includes fashion, hardlines and food in Thailand, Vietnam and Italy.  Same-store sales growth was a sluggish +1 per cent, held back by a hellish quarter in the Vietnam hardlines business, in which Central owns and operates the Nguyen Kim (NK) chain of electronics stores. Same-store sales for Vietnam hardlines were down 20 per cent. Omnichannel grew at a rapid rate and now represents almost 20 per cent of company retail sales. Central Retail also owns and operates its own portfolio of malls in Thailand and Vietnam (as distinct from the 41 malls that come under Central Pattana). These collectively generated revenues of 7 per cent above the first quarter of last year, with solid performances in both countries. The bottom line: net profit was up a healthy 14 per cent, to 2.5 billion baht, (approximately US$72 million). Further reading: Eat, shop, play, repeat: Behind Central Retail’s winning mall formula