Shanghai no longer home to La Maison
- Source: Global Times
- [09:23 March 10 2011]
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By Miranda Shek
French home d cor brand La Maison will be the third international retailer in the city this month to forfeit its market share on the Chinese mainland after six years of operations in Shanghai, officially and briefly announcing its departure Wednesday.
The high-end brand name from Paris had posted the news to its website earlier Wednesday morning, but it was removed by the afternoon. Several attempts made Wednesday by the Global Times to reach La Maison failed.
But a note attached to its flagship store on Kaixuan Road in Xuhui district the first Shanghai-based location established by the company in 2005 said it had been closed since Monday, but would reopen today to deal with enquiries from customers and suppliers.
La Maison's parent company Saint-Gobain, another high-end home d cor retailer, will, however, maintain its business on the Chinese mainland including a research and development center in Shanghai along with 35 enterprises across the country, which provide some 120,000 jobs, according to local media reports Wednesday .
The reports added that La Maison's 38 subsidiaries, La Maison Arting, also in the home d cor retail industry, but located only in second and third-tier Chinese cities, will also stay put.
La Maison's exit comes as US-based toy maker Mattel made a similar announcement for its Shanghai Barbie flagship store on Monday, and follows the departure of US-based electronics retailer Best Buy some two weeks ago.