Louis Vuitton to open its first European airport boutique at Heathrow

The iconic fashion house is set to open its doors at Terminal 5

Vuitton's interlaced LV is fashion's most copied fashion logo

French luxury brand Louis Vuitton will open its first European airport shop at Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

The luxury brand has been reducing the number of stores it has to keep the brand exclusive in the face of weaker sales growth but has signed up at Heathrow to promote its travel collection. It said the T5 store would be dedicated to its “art of travel” ranges which include trunks and luggage and will open by Christmas.

Its first airport store opened at The Shilla Duty Free centre at Incheon International Airport in south Korea in 2011. Property agent Harper Dennis Hobbs advised Louis Vuitton on the Heathrow deal.

Louis Vuitton’s parent LVMH will report its first half results today with analysts expecting an update on whether sales at its Louis Vuitton brand had improved. It had suffered from falling sales growth amid claims some consumers thought the brand had become ubiquitous.

The Keepall bag is one of the monogrammed luggage

It has recently increased prices and introduced more exclusive and expensive handbags. John Guy, analyst at Berenberg, noted that search data from Chinese web services group Baidu, found Louis Vuitton remained the most sought after luxury brand in mainland China.

Berenberg predicted first-half sales up 2% on a reported basis to €13.9bn and earnings of €2.75bn.