South Koreans Line Up Outside Chanel Stores At 5 AM, To Avoid Price Hike

South Korea is the world's eighth-biggest luxury goods market and ever since the country's government eased its social-distancing norms, people have lined up outside Chanel stores to treat themselves.

Fed up of remaining indoors, their priorities were to grab a Chanel bag before it went out of stock. Despite the fact that the country is still under the threat of a second wave of coronavirus infections, Lotte Department Store in Seoul witnessed a long queue of people early in the morning at 5:00 am.

The surge in shoppers was also due to the online speculation that Chanel might hike its prices and people wanted to grab the luxury items before they became even more expensive. In order to shop at the stores, the shoppers were given a numbered entry ticket to enter the store.

Reuters

According to a Reuters report, a shopper named Lee Ji-yeon said she arrived at the store at about 7:30 a.m. and that her future son-in-law was in line at another department store to buy a Chanel bag for her daughter as a present for their wedding. Apparently, the couple was supposed to get married but the pandemic made them push their date to November.

She said, ¡°We¡¯ve been to the Chanel store several times before and agonising whether to buy it or not. But since the prices are going to increase, we decided to buy it now."

It's almost like a tradition in South Korea to gift luxury bags for weddings. Another man in the queue claimed that his wedding date had been pushed due to the global crisis.

Lotte

The report further adds that a Chanel rep from Seoul claimed that prices will soon go up by saying, ¡°In these challenging times for our manufacturers and suppliers, it is essential for Chanel to continue to support them in the best possible way."

Luxury goods sales have gone up by 30% from May 1 to May 10 for Lotte Department Store. A spokesman for the store said, "Luxury goods posted unusually high growth in sales compared to other products. There are two or three times more people than normal waiting in line."

Chanel

The country has recorded almost 11,000 cases of COVID-19 and has a death toll of over 250.