Harvey Nichols opening in Azerbaijan

The 110,000-square-foot store is within the Globus Plaza mall in the city’s Nasimi district, and spans seven floors. It will carry more than 500 different labels across men’s, women’s, children’s and bridal wear, along with a perfumery and cosmetics department. The store also houses a café, restaurant and a lounge and club, and will offer styling and personal shopping services. The new space, which has been designed by the London interior design firm Four IV, has been opened in partnership with Perfomans Azerbaijan, Harvey Nichols’ exclusive licensee for the country. Perfomans is part of General Construction, an Azerbaijan-based investment group that has interests in areas including construction, retail, energy, tourism, hospitality and production.

Stacey Cartwright, group chief executive of Harvey Nichols, described the Azerbaijan market as "fast becoming one of the top luxury retail destinations in the world.” The store cited research by The Economist, which found that between 2000 and 2010 Azerbaijan was considered to have the world’s second fastest-growing economy, and Euromonitor data that found that in the last five years, the number of affluent people in Azerbaijan has more than quadrupled. The new store adds to Harvey Nichols existing seven U.K. stores — which include its London flagship — along with international stores in cities including Dublin; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Istanbul and Ankara in Turkey and stores in Kuwait, Dubai and Hong Kong.