Store Weighs Services for Asian Tourists

Hiroko Pritchard believes there is more to life in Beverly Hills than Rodeo Drive.

As the new Asian-relations representative for Neiman Marcus (a post that appears to be a fashion-retail rarity in the United States), Pritchard has been discussing a concept with the Japanese Business Assn. and top Japanese tour companies. If the plans go into operation, buses will not merely drop visitors off on Rodeo Drive. They will also transport luxury-loving tourists a short distance west to Neiman’s on Wilshire Boulevard for breakfast or lunch, a fashion show and shopping.

“Japanese tourists want to experience life as if they were living here,” explains Pritchard, who grew up in Tokyo. Her background includes two years at an unusual private school where the students were “Americanized.” Instead of uniforms, the girls were free to wear whatever they liked. They were also encouraged to become bilingual. And it is this skill, plus her business background, that helped Pritchard land her latest job.

Japanese travelers are allowed to take home purchases worth 300,000 yen (about $1,800 at the current exchange rate) duty free. They prefer to spend their money on apparel and accessories that have initials of fashion houses such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton. They like to stock up on cosmetics, “because they are 30% to 50% cheaper here,” says Pritchard.

Japanese travelers also are bound by tradition to return bearing gifts for relatives, employers and co-workers. “And they have to be serious gifts,” says Pritchard. “They could be anything from a box of Godiva chocolates to beautiful men’s accessories or a piece of crystal.” For these, the visitors will spend “$30 to $50 and up.”

Japanese tourists may find the perfect present, but it’s unlikely they will ever find home-style service--even with people such as Pritchard on the job in Beverly Hills. In stores in Japan, she recalls, “you are almost killed with kindness.”