New fashion store to open on Bahnhofstrasse

The pop-up store “Fast & Chic” is to start trading from premises at number 21 Bahnhofstrasse on Saturday 29 September, though only for a limited period.

With so much clothing now bought online, through shops such as Zalando or “About you”, where you can have your purchases delivered to your home, conventional fashion stores have not been having an easy time.

In 2016, when the Italian fashion chain OVS took over the 140 Swiss Vögele shops, it opened a branch at number 21 Bahnhofstrasse, too, but this closed last summer.

Now, as mentioned, this “Fast & Chic” shop, selling both men’s and women’s fashion items, is to open in these premises at the end of this month. While Carlo Schuler, the head of the Lucerne branch of the Apleona Real Estate AG company which is letting out the premises on Bahnhofstrasse, recognised the current trend for buying clothes online, he said fashion shops opening on a temporary basis could be very profitable, adding that personal advice played a role in this. The important thing also is to keep Bahnhofstrasse alive.

This was echoed by Alessandro Bonciani, the managing director of “Fast & Chic”, which has specialised in such temporary stores. On sale at the Zug store will be clothes of some 40 designer brands in the middle-price range, offering between 50 and 70 per cent off the regular prices. After other “Fast & Chic” shops in Horgen and Uster, both in the neighbouring canton of Zurich, the Zug branch will be the company’s third. Some may remember the name from 18 months ago, when the company opened a shop on Bundesplatz, too.

As mentioned, it is not known how long “Fast & Chic” will actually remain in the Bahnhofstrasse premises; Schuler is currently negotiating with a number of businesses for a more long-term let.