Plan for store in Ginza derailed

Published: 16 Dec 2008 21:59:07 PST

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, the world's largest luxury-goods maker, said a plan to open a store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district was derailed after it failed to reach an agreement with the building's developer.

Talks with Tokyo-based developer Hulic Co have finished, Yuri Matsueda, an LVMH spokeswoman who works for Burson-Marsteller, told Bloomberg News by telephone yesterday, declining to elaborate.

The Paris-based company's Japan unit agreed to abandon a lease contract with Hulic as sales for luxury goods in Japan are declining, the Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday, without citing anyone.

The 12-story building was slated for completion in 2010, the report said. Land prices in Ginza, home to Japan's most expensive real estate, rose 28 percent last year.