Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Super luxury boutique in Brunei

Overview of the newly launched Pace Tempo boutique
Photo: Jason Leong; Copyright © 2007 Brunei Press Sdn Bhd.


By Sonia K

Yesterday marked the launching of Pace Tempo, a boutique carrying collections of high-end brands like Bvlgari, Audemars Piguet, Visconti, Fortis and Delta, at The Empire Hotel & Country Club.

Present to officiate the launch was Yang Amat Mulia Pengiran Bini Hajah Faizah binti Dato Haji Nasir. The guest of honour was greeted by Baiduri Prestige Manager, Alvina Chung; Director of Pace Tempo, Jimmie Tay; and Director of Operations of The Empire Hotel & Country Club, Nigel Moore.

Also present at the opening were CEO of Audemars Piguet in Southeast Asia, Oliviero Bottinelli; Managing Director of Bvlgari, Mr Richard Yong; Managing Director of Fortis and Anonimo, Mr Mark Quek; as well as Baiduri Bank management including General Manager, Mr Pierre Imhof and Deputy General Manager of Retail Banking and Branch Network, Mr Ti Eng Hui.

During the opening, the guest of honour was presented with a gift from the CEO of Audemars Piguet, followed by a plaque signing and photo session with the management of Baiduri Bank, Management of Pace Tempo and their brand partners. The guest of honour and Baiduri Prestige customers were then invited to view the collections.

"It took us a long time to get here because we did a very thorough market survey when we first arrived in this place (Brunei). We agree that this (Empire Hotel) is the right place. It took a while because we were trying to understand what is the best way to get into this market and what kind of products are suitable," said Managing Director of Bvlgari Mr Richard Yong. "It actually took us three years," he added when asked how long they took to survey for a suitable place.

"The prices are competitive to that of Singapore, which is the benchmark for international pricing. Besides that, the products are updated (up to season)," Mr Yong said.

Mr Bottinelli said, "I have met few Bruneian collectors around the region, they have faith in the product and bringing the product to Brunei is a bit of a reward. We will bring to Pace Tempo the newest collection all the time with competitive prices."

Speaking on Citimex, Mr Mark Quek said that they carry three categories of products, mostly high-end and collectors' market such as Fortis and Anonimo for luxury timepieces and Visconti and Delta for writing instruments.

"Visconti has been around for 25 years. It's an Italian brand and is specially handcrafted with a price range from about $1,000 to above $300,000. We really bring the best handcrafted products to the people of Brunei for them to enjoy and appreciate," he added.

Pace Tempo aims to educate the customers in Brunei on its products by organising several educational seminars (on jewelleries, jewels, pens and watches), and to assure them that they can buy these same products in Brunei with prices that are comparable with Singapore or Malaysia, said the Director of Pace Tempo.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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