US. Tumi, the internationally known American executive travel bags and accessories brand, opens a second store in Germany this month in Frankfurt – Tumi’s fifth European store after Paris, London, Munich and Helsinki.
“We opted for Frankfurt as a second location [in Germany] after Munich, since Frankfurt is an internationally known exhibition centre and at the same time one of Europe’s most important financial centres,” said Marketing Director Europe Henrike Schreyer-Vogt.
The 90sq m Frankfurt store, opening in Goethestrasse on 10 December, carries the entire Tumi collection. Spacious rooms and high-quality materials form the setting for the premium products, said Schreyer-Vogt. Househam Henderson, a firm of architects based in Berlin, designed the boutique.
Tumi operates over 50 flagship stores worldwide, 40 of which are in the US and six in Asia. The shops are an important part of the international expansion strategy, said Schreyer-Vogt. For the next three years Tumi plans to open 20 new stores annually, half in the US and the other half in Europe and Asia.
The main focus on Europe will lay in metropolitan cities such as Milan, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, Athens, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Zürich and Amsterdam.
About Tumi
Headquartered in New Jersey, Tumi was founded in 1975 by Charles J. Clifford, Chairman and CEO, and employs 600 people worldwide (35 in Germany). Tumi has achieved annual growth rates of between +20% and +30% and sales for 2005 are estimated at over US$300 million, an increase of +20% compared to the previous year. In 1990, Tumi started its international expansion and now the share of international sales is about 20%, almost equally divided between Europe and Asia. Today, Tumi is sold in more than 40 countries. Germany, the brand’s second biggest European market after the UK, boasts over 50 points of sale in speciality stores and premium department stores. Tumi has shop-in-shops in KaDeWe in Berlin and at Breuninger in Stuttgart.
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