Those who couldn't get enough of the Top Marques Shanghai luxury
and supercar show that concluded earlier this month will probably
fall in love with a newly opened department store in Haikou in
southern Hainan Province.
The store boasts some extreme luxury items on its shelves. Among
them are two Vertu Monza cellphones selling at a heart-stopping
price of 52,000 yuan (US$6,600) each. Vertu, a subsidiary of Nokia,
made Monza limited edition phones to celebrate the classic
racetracks of the world. There are only 1,000 Monza handsets
worldwide. That makes the phones so special, customers at the
Haikou store are not allowed to touch them unless they are going to
make a purchase.
Other luxury items include a Mont Blanc pen priced at 9,800 yuan
and a WMF kitchen knife retailing 6,900 yuan.
While citizens accuse the store of selling items that are far
beyond their reach, Xue Qiang, vice-general manager of the store,
insists there is a niche market in the city and they are going to
find it.
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(CRI November 1, 2006)
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