French luxury shoe brand Berluti opened the doors to its first store in Lebanon last month. Olga Berluti, creative director and lead designer for Berluti, said Lebanese clients shopping in Paris, whom she described as “always cheerful and courteous,” persuaded her to open a store in downtown Beirut. Pierre Bouissou, general director of Berluti, told Executive that he too had his eye on Beirut since he joined the company in 2008. “For me it was strategy to develop in Beirut,” he said at the store’s opening on October 8. “In Paris, we have a lot of Arab clients, and Arab clients love watches and shoes.” The Berluti’s Beirut establishment is the company’s second in the region, after Dubai, which opened in 2006. Berluti currently has 36 stores worldwide and according to Bouissou, will be concentrating on developing in the Middle East and China in the coming year. “For us it’s
