I am stunned !!!!!!!
Yesterday I visited a very nice modern new perfume store in a key position in our local Noosa Civic centre on the Sunshine Coast, here in Queensland.
I was "just browsing" but asked the SA if they had any Jicky in store.
Her jaw dropped as she said she did not know of of that one !!!!
After my asking after other Guerlains she explained, "Oh Guerlain, well we have Samsara and Jardins de Bagatelle and one bottle of Mitsouko EDT...we are going out of Guerlain now and replacing it with Prada ! " My voice shook as I asked if the could ask the owner of it was possisble to order any Guerlain for customers who wanted it in the future.
She took out her notebook and made a note, asking how to spell, Jicky !!!!!!! and whether it was a Guerlain!!!!!, and then, then,,,, she had to ask me how to spell Christmas (my surname).

Obviously the lights are out here in Noosa ! the most chic tourist capital of Australia ??? I don't think so !

Well, this will do janie in aus in. Good heavens.

Oh no! A speciality perfume store not stocking Guerlain, even my small local (country town not city) Priceline stocks a few of the popular Guerlain perfumes.

I bet they had plenty of Can Can by Paris Hilton lying around...

OMG, I think I feel faint! Guerlain is one of my favorite, if not my favorite houses! Good lord, what has this world come to????




Maybe even a few Jessica Simpsons, or Hillary Duff?

Yup, they have a lovely store with a couple of brilliant factice bottles on display...." Covet" one of them.
Chanel seems safe there so far. ....

But so disappointing...for lovers of Classics generally.

We have a chain group of Perfume Connection stores here and there in the south east of Qld and our big two dept stores do their best. However I pray that one day someone will have the extra pennies and the marketing savvy to run a decent dedicated perfume store in our part of the world. If not it will not be too long before the history and culture of perfumery of the past and of the present will be found only in Museums and specialist centres in Arts Colleges.

The perfume industry needs to cultivate some education of their SAs at least to a level where they know something of the history and the currency of the Art of Perfume Creation.

Not to carry Guerlain and others of their ilk in a perfumery store is akin to scrapping Shakespeare from English lit or taking the rose out of every garden !!!

I've noticed, that some SA, when asked about some of the classics, reply: " But that's an old one" meaning 'old' in a negative way, that's if they heard about a fragrance in question in the first place. I'm afraid, nothing can be done, market rules, and because classics are not promoted, the public forgets about them. I can't understand why, when so many people love old houses, antics, vintage clothing, classic perfumes are left out from the "retro' craze.

Oh, yeah. "Old" in SA parlance is very definitely a negative. I understand that tastes change (can anyone imagine Pink Sugar being released in the 1950's?) but stores are throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Since LVMH took complete control, buying 100% of Guerlain family stock back in 2000 or 2001, it's been straight downhill for accessibility. I think LVMH thought they needed to redo eveything, formulas, distribution, packaging, everything. In 1990, I could walk into either of the major department store in my relatively small town and find the full range of Guerlain from Jicky to Liu to Samsara. In fact, I could find the full range in my small home town in a glass case in Krogers complete with gold metal cases. It was all there. Even in 1999, I could order Apres L'Ondee pure parfum from Nordstrom's online.

The Guerlain family had sold out 49% of their stock in 1995 as I recall. The final half was sold in 2000 or 2001. That five year period when the Guerlain family had the benefits of LVMH's cash reserves was a golden age for Guerlain. Many new creations and limited editions in Baccarat crystal were launched including Vega and Djedi all sold through Bergdorf Goodman's catalog and others. Then 2000 came and the golden age was over. LVMH staff came in and started changing everything. The biggest change was that I couldn't find Guerlain anywhere! It had vanished. Nordstrom's huge display was gone, leaving only Samsara and Shalimar, a long way for Apres L'Ondee and Jicky pure parfums. In fact, nobody had any Guerlains other than these. What was LVMH thinking? I'm guessing they were thinking 'exclusivity', but what they got was 'forgotten'.

Chanel22, I really don't understand LVMH's strategy here. I would love for someone to explain how making a product less available makes a business more money. I'm assuming it's a similar strategy as Lutens uses for his non-export line. Do. Not. Understand. Please 'splain!

Merrymusk, I agree with all your points and wanted to comment on this one particularly. Perfume has generally been "coming up in the world" in media attention and lots of books and articles coming into the mainstream. A lot of companies have been reviving some of their classics (for better or for worse results) and the interest in perfumery is definitely on the rise among the public. The next logical area for the industry to look at is the support at sales level and the whether the SAs are capable of promoting this more robust image of the perfumes being put forth. It's true the majority of sales are probably from the newest mass perfumes but hopefully that other aspect of the industry will lead the manufacturers and stores to put some more resources in the weak links, which are holes in the full brand lines and the training of SAs.

It really seems the future of quality perfumery lies with the expensive niches.

LuckyScent seems the place to shop, rather than a bricks-and-mortar store.

I recently had a bottle of YR Ispahan ordered and re-shipped for me in the UK by a friend. Of course, it cost more than if YR were running a special on it in the US (which is when I bought my older bottles.) But I wanted this new bottle design as well as new juice.

Anyway, it came to me perfectly and it didn't cost her a whole lot to ship it (of course I reimbursed her.)

Perhaps you could have someone mail it to you from out of the country?

There are lots of ways of acquiring perfume but the physical shopping experience in a beautiful perfume ambiance is something I treasure and is part of my enjoyment of the perfume. I hope fine perfume stores and departments stick around for a long time and that companies invest in making them viable.

It's snobbery! Can't you just imagine the look on LVMH faces, sitting in a boardroom in Paris France, table covered in spreadsheets of the Guerlain distibution network...and then they see that Liu is available in two sizes in a Krogers in Versailles, Kentucky! Gasp! This simply won't do! But if we make it exclusive we can charge twice or four times as much per bottle and then maybe even skimp on the ingredients so we will be making eight times more than those plebian Guerlains ever did! (Can't you just hear them!)

It does not surpise me "not so MerryMusk"!!! I was talking to a Guerlain SA a few years ago - I mean the bitch had their uniform on and she had never heard of Jicky or Chamade ! Then I noticed the square Parfum bottles in the draw she opened and I pointed to them! Yeah, you guessed it samples that were never opened and put out!
"Oooh, I never smelt them before" - what a bimbo.

How a so called Perfume shop can get rid of Guerlain ( a company that is all about perfume) and replace it with Prada (a leather goods shop ) is a joke!

Merrymusk, I have nothing new to contribute other than that I agree with all these comments. Reading this post just makes me feel so dismal, yet I don't feel so alone knowing that others feel and think the same. Browsing, lingering and shopping for perfume is not a pleasure in Australia.

Smelka and Lady Jicky, I have encountered your exact experiences and responses from Guerlain SA's at David Jones and Myer many a time. Don't these people have any curiousity or interest in the brand they represent?

Fiveoaks, The physical shopping expeience and ambience is sadly non existent in Australia. Certainly it is lacking in my city. When I go shopping or browsing I want to be seduced by the shop's décor and merchandise. I don't think we have a very seductive culture in Australia. I am eternally grateful for the Internet but it does not compare to seeing, smelling and touching the real thing.

Christine, I am in Melbourne and the shopping experience is getting sadder and sadder - unless , you are a very game soul and front up to Paint and Powder and take on the Dragon and her Dragonettes!
If you can get samples - I shall give you a Medal!!! Gold, Gold, Gold!!!

sometimes the world is just too small; small-minded I mean. We are pushed towards niche marketers and e-tail sites as the local boutiques become "Walmarts".

Which is the cause and which is the effect? Are the etailers getting more business because the stores are diminishing their stock or are the stores diminishing their stock because the etailers are getting more business? (This is the perfume question equivalent of which came first the chicken or the egg. )

A year ago a very nice perfumery opened in my suburb, the proprietor is French and she stocks Creed, Caron, Annick Goutail, a lot of different brands of , soaps, candles and so on, well, she is closing her shop , she is not relocating, she said that she will be selling on the net, and through parties.


The shop is very nice, and I feel sad, a few months ago I bought some Balman by Balmain for my husband, and one Caron for myself, but it was much, much more expensive than on the net, but I enjoyed the whole experience of chatting about perfumes, trying them, and it was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon... but I did it only once..... well this is it , good illustration to your post Fiveoaks Bouquet .

THANKS FIVE OAKS for the above. Encouraging thoughts !!

You are so right that perfume is gaining media attention more and that is truly a positive. And yes I believe that perfume companies should and hopefully will use media and shopfront/instore strategies for far better promotion than they do and education of SAs is essential.

Niche perfumers are important saviours and futurists of the Art. And authors, writers and bloggers help enhance the conservation of the masterpieces of the past and future.

Now ...I feel a little better !!!

BLESSEM ! ALL.

Merrymusk, I'm conviced the only reason Prada is popular is because the proles can easily pronounce the word and the same 'house' had first popularised their handbags.