More Mango?
Since I spend most of my time at work and cannot log about those events (oh though I would love to) I feel like I must add the female perspective on the opening of Mango.
The is the fourth actual representation to open here in Armenia (lead by Betty Barclay - Germany, Naf Naf - France, Two Lips Shoes - US, and now Mango - Spanish). It seems that a franca-hay has franchized this spanish clothing line and he must have paid a pretty buck or two. Franchising costs 100,000 euro down in addition to the cost of purchasing the property, equipment, and a number of other things. The store is pretty small but apparently Mango tried to purchase a number of properties next door and was denied. (Prices here are sky rocketing and to purchase a store now costs between 2k-4k per square meter pending on location). They say that if dual citizenship is finally allowed that real estate prices are going to go up yet again.
I went in yesterday and clearly made a small purchase (got to help the Armenian stores, right) and was pleasantly surprised by the prices. A number of "fake" stores have opened their doors here in Armenia and sell clothing for ridiculous markups. The Victoria Secret store, for example, charges about $15 minimum for undies that cost no more than $5 in the US. The store continues to be busy and Armenians are ready to spend their money on normal priced clothing (the girls must look good, right?) It will be interesting to see what happens one month down the road when the excitement of it's opening has dwindled down.
In other news I had lunch two weeks ago at Artbridge with a few friends. The lead singer of SOAD was there and it was great to see local Armenians enamored by him as well. He seemed quite nice - giving autographs to whomever asked - pregnant ladies included!
Have I mentioned that the Hrazdan stadium now has three hard tennis courts? It is now THE tennis club here in Armenia and is being renovated to meet "international standards". Apparently sponsorship is coming from wealthy Armenians in Turkey as well as the president of the Armenian Tennis Federation. My tennis partner and I saw him play the other day at the courts and he actually had brought multiple body guards with him. Who needs body guards to play tennis? Maybe he's scared of flying balls... hmm...
The is the fourth actual representation to open here in Armenia (lead by Betty Barclay - Germany, Naf Naf - France, Two Lips Shoes - US, and now Mango - Spanish). It seems that a franca-hay has franchized this spanish clothing line and he must have paid a pretty buck or two. Franchising costs 100,000 euro down in addition to the cost of purchasing the property, equipment, and a number of other things. The store is pretty small but apparently Mango tried to purchase a number of properties next door and was denied. (Prices here are sky rocketing and to purchase a store now costs between 2k-4k per square meter pending on location). They say that if dual citizenship is finally allowed that real estate prices are going to go up yet again.
I went in yesterday and clearly made a small purchase (got to help the Armenian stores, right) and was pleasantly surprised by the prices. A number of "fake" stores have opened their doors here in Armenia and sell clothing for ridiculous markups. The Victoria Secret store, for example, charges about $15 minimum for undies that cost no more than $5 in the US. The store continues to be busy and Armenians are ready to spend their money on normal priced clothing (the girls must look good, right?) It will be interesting to see what happens one month down the road when the excitement of it's opening has dwindled down.
In other news I had lunch two weeks ago at Artbridge with a few friends. The lead singer of SOAD was there and it was great to see local Armenians enamored by him as well. He seemed quite nice - giving autographs to whomever asked - pregnant ladies included!
Have I mentioned that the Hrazdan stadium now has three hard tennis courts? It is now THE tennis club here in Armenia and is being renovated to meet "international standards". Apparently sponsorship is coming from wealthy Armenians in Turkey as well as the president of the Armenian Tennis Federation. My tennis partner and I saw him play the other day at the courts and he actually had brought multiple body guards with him. Who needs body guards to play tennis? Maybe he's scared of flying balls... hmm...
posted by Arina at 9:55 AM
9 Comments:
Could the pregnant lady at Artbridge possible be Klaus' wife??? ;-) Read his latest post on the Expat page and you'll know what I mean.
Isn’t Two Lips from Brazil?
By the way you forgot to mention Swatch, Giordano and Hugo Boss which are all official franchises. There’s also Triumph which is questionable in regards to being official.
Still waiting for decent guys clothing stores to open up. The girls are extremely progressive with attire, but I won't bother talking about the majority of guys. But what do you expect where there is no decent guys clothing store to shop at?
Good call - I forgot about Swatch and Giordano. As for Hugo Boss I have heard that their clothing is made here in Armenia. Also they are way overpriced. Two Lips has their factory in Brazil - but the founders are Lebanese Armenians who opened the chain after moving to the US.
As for the mens clothing store - you guys are pretty much out of luck. Giordano's and "gapland" are it.
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
Raffi please dont erase with comment but Giordano and gapland are garbage.
As far as Boss, it still is an official franchise. The clothes made here or not I've never heard of.
Anonymous that posted about the personal life of a logger...
PLEASE DON'T! People will reveal what they like about their personal lives, and "what you've heard" does not need to be posted here.
huh?
Hi, can you please get in touh with franca-hay. I need to conatct him. Many Mango franchisee are going bust all over the work. I want to help him if he is having difficulty.
jonathan.stevensuk@hotmail.co.uk
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