Céline to expand its retail network in Europe and the US

Friday marked the opening of Céline's much anticipated London flagship store on Mount Street and the brands official return to the UK. In 2009, Céline shutdown its sole store in the UK before Phoebe Philo, who was named creative director of the label and came from Chloé in 2008, led the label's turnaround.

Unlike a number of recent store openings in London, the 3,240 square foot store opening was a subtle affair, reflecting the label's creative director relaxed style. The London flagship store is also said to the first of 15 new stores to be opened this year for the French luxury label which is owned by parent company LVMH.

"We're ready to roll out a little bit now," said Marco Gobbetti, Céline's Chief Executive Officer in an interview with WWD. "But it's very targeted," he stressed. "We are not really multiplying our presence in cities, but we want to open some relevant stores in the important cities while keeping the distribution fairly tight." Céline's London flagship store opening in a key step for the brand and Philo, as its design studis are based in London and the country is listed among one of the four most important metropolitan retail markets," with an international client list for the label, noted Gobbetti.

A number of stores are set to be rolled out this spring and included locations such as the Avenue Montaigne in Paris, where a 6,500 square foot flagship store will open on April 28 and a smaller 5,900 sqaure foot store in Chengdu, one of China's fastest growing cities is set to open April 6. A 7,000 square foot store is scheduled to open May 31 in Tokyo, Japan, along with a 4,300 square foot store in Las Vegas to open May 14 and another smaller store is set to open in New York's Soho district in August.

Gobbetti noted that the US currently accounts for roughly 15 percent of the label's sales, with "a great affinity in terms of aesthetics", for Céline existing in the country. "The American client is one of our best clients, so we know that we have an enormous potential there."

Europe is currently seen as Céline biggest market in terms of sales, accounting for 35 percent of sales, and the label is set to roll out a number of standalone stores in some of its most prominent cities. "I think we have a lot of opportunity in the Western side of the world," said Gobbetti. "It's a very controlled growth, but substantial."

Céline retail expansion, which is set to occur over the next two to three years will see the additional opening of eight to twelve stand alone stores, as well as a number of shop-in-shop stores. Gobetti chose not to disclose any financial figures concerning Céline, revealing only that the label has been growing at a double-digit rate.