Big discounts and store closures expected as luxury brand Tonino Lamborghini exits Hong Kong

Luxury brand Tonino Lamborghini, which carries apparel, accessories and leather goods, will exit Hong Kong amid poor sales performance of the city’s luxury market, with more than 10 independent shops and in-store counters shutting down soon.

A shop assistant at its Tsim Sha Tsui store, who has worked for the company for more than 10 years, told the Post that she and other staff members would soon have to find new jobs.

“We were told all the stores in Hong Kong would be closed, but the company didn’t say exactly when,” she added.

This comes as another blow to Hong Kong’s battered luxury goods market, after American brand Coach closed its four-storey flagship store in Central and British fashion house Burberry reduced the size of its Pacific Place store, its largest in the city, by 50 per cent.

Tonino Lamborghini, an Italian brand, was started in 1981 by the son of sports car maker and industrialist Ferruccio Lamborghini, though the two companies remain separate.

The brand has retail stores in Hong Kong and Macau which sell a variety of luxury products including apparel, bags, shoes and watches.

Discounts of as much as 70 per cent were offered to the customers in the retailer’s last battle to empty its warehouses in the city. In one of its shops in Jordan, signs which said “Exit Hong Kong” and “Closing Down Sales” had appeared in the store window.

According to Tonino Lamborghini’s official website, it has 18 shops and in-store counters all over Hong Kong, with many of them located in tourist districts such as Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui.

Since last year, the luxury retailer has been quietly closing down some of its stores and in-store counters, said the long-time staff member. She added that only a few stores remain open currently.

Rebecca Tse So-han, general manager of marketing at Yata department store, where the brand had occupied a counter for more than 10 years, said the counter closed in January after its lease expired.

“Their sales performance was not particularly good … but it was not too bad either,” she said, adding that the retailer had chosen not to renew the lease, not the other way around.