Gucci’s Franchisee Predicts Boom In Sales

The Moscow Times:

Mercury Group, the Russian franchisee for European luxury-goods makers including PPR’s Gucci unit, expects sales to rise 50% in 2007.

Sales have gained between 25% and 50% a year since Mercury was founded in 1994, vice president Alla Verber said. The purchase and remodeling of the TsUM department store, next to the Bolshoi Theater, will boost revenue to a record this year, she said.

The country’s luxury-goods market may expand by as much as 20% in 2007, according to Verber. TsUM, a flagship state department store in the Communist era, now sells goods under luxury brands such as Giorgio Armani…

Photo: Mikhail Fomichyov / Itar-Tass.