{"id":36949,"date":"2017-08-17T11:34:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T10:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/?p=36949"},"modified":"2017-08-18T13:52:05","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T12:52:05","slug":"exclusive-harrods-chief-merchant-says-summer-traffic-dipped-exceptional-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.watchpro.com\/exclusive-harrods-chief-merchant-says-summer-traffic-dipped-exceptional-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Harrods chief merchant describes Brexit impact on exceptional summer of 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
Central London’s luxury watch stores may never enjoy another summer like 2016 as post-Brexit jitters drove the value of the pound lower, making top end timepieces 25% cheaper than rival markets around the world and sucking in high-spending visitors from overseas.<\/strong><\/p>\n Helen David, chief merchant at Knightsbridge institution Harrods, suggests the spike should be considered an exception to normal years.<\/p>\n “We saw an exceptional performance from the Fine Watch Room in 2016; this growth was certainly bolstered by the favourable exchange rate post-Brexit, however we also saw an extremely strong Half 1 in 2016, indicating that Harrods was already a global destination for Fine Watches,” she told Watchpro<\/em> in an interview that will be published in full in the September edition of the magazine.<\/p>\n Luxury watch brands have increased prices in the UK \u2014 some of them more than once \u2014 since Brexit in order to reduce differentials to other markets. This appears to have taken some of the heat out of the market for\u00a0Harrods this summer with the number of shoppers at the Fine Watch Room down compared to 2016.<\/p>\n