Paul & Shark opens first cruise-ship boutique Along with first store in South Korea

Luxury lifestyle brand Paul & Shark has partnered with Starboard to open its first personalized boutique next month onboard the Costa Fortuna, while the middle of the month sees a magnificent new point of sale opening at Incheon International Airport with Lotte Duty Free – the brand’s first travel retail store in South Korea.

“We are so excited about these two projects,” says Paul & Shark Worldwide Travel Retail Director Catherine Bonelli. “The Costa Fortuna is a beautiful ship and to have our own stand-alone bou-tique onboard is a real coup. Opening in December in the run up to Christmas could not be better timing and we’re expecting really good sell-through during the month.

“Our new opening in Incheon will enable us to enjoy truly spectacular visibility for the brand.  Along with the Lotte store we have another two openings planned in Seoul by the first quarter of 2016, giving Paul & Shark a very strong foot-print in the South Korean travel retail market. These open-ings are both downtown Duty-Free, one with Donghwa and another with SM Duty Free.

This continues a trend that has seen a 55% increase in openings for Paul & Shark over the past 18 months. “Of these around half are located in airports and the rest with cruise-lines and down-town Duty Free stores,” continues Bonelli. Other confirmed openings for 2016 are at Pudong Ter-minal 1 in partnership with King Power Orient; Hong Kong International Airport with Lagardères Travel Retail, and Houston with ATU-Heinemann”.

Next year looks equally positive following another extremely busy and productive week at TFWA World Exhibition last month.  “Cannes, with our new stand, was an incredibly busy and successful week for us with head to head appointments all week,” says Bonelli. “Our personalized embroidery service was again a particular talking point and has become a real stand-out highlight for us.”

Says Bonelli: “It’s been an incredibly busy and hardworking year for the Travel Retail team but the effort is certainly paying off and we are being rewarded with superb locations for the brand. We are confident that 2016 will be another exceptional year for us, as retailers continue to understand and realize the business potential of partnering with Paul & Shark.

“I’d really like to take this opportunity to thank all our retail partners for their magnificent support this year – and to my team for their amazing dedication and fantastic efforts.”