Exporting Your Brand

I went to Paris a few years ago and my plans for the trip involved a pilgrimage to Ladurée, a tea and confectionary boutique famous for its signature macarons. I’d been to Paris before, but had not yet been infected by the macaron craze. This time, I was determined to get there. I worked the visit into my itinerary and arrived, along with what I suppose is the usual throng of tourists, to wait in line for my macaron gift boxes for the next 45 minutes or so.

The place is quite enchanting. If you’ve never been: The interior encompasses a peaceful palette of pastels that are closely aligned to the color range of its confectionery products. It’s all very enchanting and serves to keep one’s impatience at bay, as you wait in the never-ending line for sugary delights. They did reprimand me for taking photos, but hey – if you’re going to make me wait, I need to amuse myself. After all, I’m from New York (I’m assuming that’s enough said on that matter).

Several months later, I was in Dubai on business and, much to my surprise, I stumbled upon Ladurée at the Dubai Mall. It was perfect timing, as I was starving and looking for a snack opportunity, and the targeted 4 p.m. snack time was approaching (I was there during Ramadan). The Ladurée salon was a little Parisian oasis in the Dubai desert, offering a much-needed respite from traversing the length and breadth of this massive mall. As I sat there amidst the topiary shrubs, nibbling on my salted caramel macaron and sipping my chamomile tea, I felt transported from my immediate surroundings – a startling contrast to where I was truly sitting. The experience was not unlike sitting in the British pub in Disney World’s Epcot Center, just outside Orlando.

I remember being home and having a conversation about the Dubai experience with a colleague,  roughly a month after my return. I brought up the subject because she was such a Ladurée fanatic, and I thought she’d find it of interest. Of course, my Paris experience entered the conversation as well. She responded to my enthusiasm by informing me that Ladurée had recently opened a Maison on Madison Avenue. Now, I have to say that this information greatly diminished my triumph over both my long-anticipated pilgrimage to the Paris location and my discovery of the Dubai location.

To be honest, in my ignorance, I chalked up the appearance of a Ladurée in Dubai to, well, Dubai just being Dubai. I suppose it serves me right for surfing their website. Since then, I’ve stumbled upon their presence in Turkey, as an outdoor café at İstinye Park (one of two locations in Turkey); as a gold-encrusted cave at Burlington Arcade in London; and most recently, as part of the neighborhood color in New York’s SoHo.

Now, while I totally understand global brand expansion, and actually encourage it, given my day job, I’m not actually sure my sentimentality is aligned with my capitalistic leanings. I certainly understand the drivers for growth, but I have to say, much to my chagrin, that more often than not, as I travel to foreign cities, I see the same retailers on the international high streets as I do at home. Only, I won’t bother to shop these U.S. retailers outside of the U.S. for a myriad of reasons – currency exchange rates and/or the foreign price points, limited space in my suitcase, or simply, because I want something different than what I can find at home.

Unfortunately for Ladurée, they now fall in this category, as I won’t bother visiting them in Paris the next time I’m there because I can do that at home – even if it is the mothership location. I suppose this is the burden of living in NYC (or any other large city where retailers plant flagships that act as brand beacons). You become spoiled – been there, done that. The bellwether would be if someone from a small town, or a second-tier city, feels the same way.

I guess I would offer that, given the proliferation of online purchasing, retailers should be judicious about growth (take Hermès, for example) and limit their presence to the few stores they build with environments that are special enough to inspire the pilgrimage in the first place. Let the Internet garner global reach. I know, I probably just put myself out of a job, but what I would hope this would yield are fewer (but more fabulous) shopping destinations and greater diversity of the retail offerings globally. Because if the global brands aren’t snapping up all the high street leases in the major cities worldwide, it leaves room for new players – possibly even purely online players creating their first brick and mortar presence – to enter the arena of “shopper-tainment”.

Revolution? Maybe. So, perhaps it should start in Paris. Just saying.

Kathleen Jordan, AIA, CID, LEED AP, is a principal in Gensler’s New York office, and a leader of its retail practice with over 24 years of experience across the United States and internationally. Jordan has led a broad range of retail design projects as both an outside consultant and as an in-house designer. She has led projects from merchandising and design development all the way through construction documentation and administration, and many of her projects have earned national and international design awards. Contact her at kathleen_jordan@gensler.com.