booms in beirut

All that glittersLuxury goods retailers have enjoyed a mixed bag of success over recent months, but show no signs of losing faith in the Lebanese market.Money, they say, can’t buy you happiness. But few would disagree that it can buy you beautiful things, and fewer still that many beautiful things can be bought in Lebanon.Whether it’s Swiss watches, French fountain pens, haute couture fashion or Italian-made private yachts, luxury goods have traditionally boasted an impressive record of success in a market with an insatiable appetite for high spendingToday is fundamentally no different. The influx of wealthy Gulf tourists and the redevelopment of Downtown as the natural habitat of high-end brands has ignited a lucrative retail boom in recent years, with Beirut inking its name back on to the regional circuit.Yet while Lebanon has plunged into political uncertainty and economic stagnation over the last fourteen months, other retail centers – especially