For Desirée Bollier, chair and global chief merchant of Value Retail, the company that started The Bicester Collection, there’s a clear distinction between shopping online versus in store. “Shopping offline is no longer just about buying things, it’s really about engaging all your senses,” she says when we chat at the poolside of the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai. Retail is something that Bollier knows plenty about. Before joining Value Retail as a founding member in 2001, the dynamic, Lebanese-Swiss executive was working at Ralph Lauren, looking after retail in Europe and the Gulf. A law graduate from the Université Paris X-Faculté de Droit, Paris, she’s also a member of the British Fashion Council Trust and sits on the Corporate Advisory Board of the Royal Academy of Arts.
With The Bicester Collection, Bollier has proved that luxury, brick and mortar shopping is thriving, albeit in a changed form. Rather than outlet malls or high-streets, its collections of 12 premium shopping hubs, or Villages as they’re known, are immersive, outdoor destinations that offer food, entertainment, personal shopping suites, and the most coveted brands; everything from Alexander McQueen and Armani to Versace and Zegna, all at reduced, off-market prices. The difference is the setting—think flower-lined alleys, cobbled streets, and quaint buildings whose architecture nods to the region’s visual history. All of it is largely catering to the traveller or tourist, someone who includes buying a luxury bag as a must-do on their summer itinerary. Under her leadership, the company’s portfolio of Villages has grown from the original Bicester Village in London to multiple destinations around the globe, scattered across countries like Italy, Spain, France, the US, and China. In 2023 the collection of Villages in Europe and China attracted 46 million guests, an increase of 13.4 per cent year on year. And a large chunk of those visitors come from India. When we speak to Bollier she explains that she’s in Mumbai to understand the needs of the globe-trotting Indian traveller.
To start with, what did you do last night?
We just got into India actually and yesterday I was in Kala Ghoda with my team so I was thinking about all the amazing things I saw there. What really piqued my interest was the rise of emerging designers here. It reminded me of neighbourhoods like Brooklyn in New York or Shoreditch in London that are like design hubs. And there was one store in particular that had this mix of Western and Indian influences, I think it was Masaba. I bought a couple of outfits for my daughter because I think she would love to have this really cool play of design elements. India has always been a country about craft but now the craft has taken another twist. It’s fashion at a whole new, fun level.
Why is the Value Retail team here in India?
We come to India at least four or five times a year because the Indian guests that come to The Bicester Collection are extremely important to us. They’re discerning and so we want to get to know them more—their habits, culture, all of it so we can customise how we welcome them when they come to our destinations.
