New Rolex Boutiques at Tourneau NYC?

[pmb600]

I was in the NYC the other day walking around Madison Ave before a business meeting and I noticed that Tourneau's Madison Ave location is moving next door to their current location and that they are opening a Rolex boutique inside the new space. I was at the 57th Street Time Machine a few weeks prior and noticed that they are also opening a Rolex boutique inside that location also. Does anyone know anything about this? Is this something Tourneau is choosing to do or does it signal some larger commitment to Tourneau by Rolex USA? I am personally not a Tourneau fan, but I thought this was an interesting development.

[DG123]

Rolex is encouraging existing retail account chains, such as Tourneau, to open exclusive Rolex "boutiques". The idea being this gives the brand added exclusivity and focused sales people.
From Rolex's perspective, it's all good. From the retail store owners perspective I imagine it hurts a bit to open a second store front, staff it, and pay the costs of operating two stores instead of one. My guess is that at the very least Rolex is subsidizing at least somewhat (such as extended payables terms), the retail store owners who agree to open a Rolex boutique.

Originally Posted by pmb600

I was in the NYC the other day walking around Madison Ave before a business meeting and I noticed that Tourneau's Madison Ave location is moving next door to their current location and that they are opening a Rolex boutique inside the new space. I was at the 57th Street Time Machine a few weeks prior and noticed that they are also opening a Rolex boutique inside that location also. Does anyone know anything about this? Is this something Tourneau is choosing to do or does it signal some larger commitment to Tourneau by Rolex USA? I am personally not a Tourneau fan, but I thought this was an interesting development.

[velvet fog]

I noticed the same arrangement last week in Waikiki. The Rolex store is 3 doors down in the same building as the Tourneau store, and the Tourneau didn't have any Rolexes displayed. At the time I just thought it was strange that they would be so close together and that the Tourneau stored didn't have any Rolex.

[tulgsT]

Basically all the Rolex watches that they normally sell are now in a special "boutique" store extension. Definitely good for Rolex as far as exclusivity of the Brand, but from the buy side experience it is basically same old Tourneau in terms of low quality service and knowledge. My bet is that the same sales people they paid to staff the two Rolex counters in the upstairs corner is now going to be just relocated to the extension store.

[Speed]

Well...the Store in San Francisco has the same help...same prices. The store is really only an elongated counter. I was really looking forward to it. The sales woman was actually very nice to me when I went in there.