Feet not falling

The living is not easy for Beirut’s luxury retailers this summer. When adjusted for inflation, retail sales figures have been falling since the third quarter of 2012, according to an index put out by the Beirut Traders Association (BTA) and Fransabank. Nicolas Chammas, the association’s president, tells Executive that the luxury sector has been particularly hard hit. “Between the end of 2011 and the end of 2013, the retail sector has dropped by 35 percent,” he says. “That’s a huge figure.” While Chammas had no hard data on how painful the past few years have been for Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Rolex and other international luxury brands present in Lebanon, he says “luxury has been impacted more than the other retail segments.” Executive attempted to contact the local agents and dealers of many foreign luxury brands and was ignored, denied an interview request or told the person responsible is out of