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Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, Fendi and Ermenegildo Zegna are some of the very first luxury stores that hanged their shingles in Multiplaza Pacific, Panama, a nation that has long been recognized as a shopping travel destination.

Together with its peculiar history, an enviable geographical location and more natural treasures than many other nations, there’s a mighty reason to visit Panama: this is no doubt a superb shopping travel destination.
With a dollarized economy and a distribution center like the Colon Free Trade Zone, Panama has been a coveted destination for shopping electronic gadgets and fashion designs. The latter, however, has gone through a gripping sea change in recent years.
The country has panned out to be the region’s number one destination for luxury shopping. Featuring a steady economic growth over the past two decades, it’s not odd that world-class brands have set up shop in Panama, opening subsidiaries as those they have in the largest capitals on the planet.
Brand names we’ve only seen in magazines started to get a hold on the local market. Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co, Fendi and Ermenegildo Zegna were some of the very first luxury stores that hanged their shingles in Multiplaza Pacific. Others, like Carolina Herrera, Hermés and Roberto Cavalli followed suit. The coming of those companies has not stopped since then.
A Glamorous Brand Lands
Luxury Avenue came into being in 2009. The addition of a 6,000-square-meter space began in 2014, including 4,200 square meters of useable area. The ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for November 2014, said Jaravy Rosales, the marketing manager for the Robles Group, the company that runs Multiplaza.
According to Rosales, there’s a repeating clientele of local and foreign customers hailing mostly from Brazil and Venezuela.
Movement in this bustling mall has increased as the place now has far more stores to offer. The expansion of Luxury Avenue has included the coming of such brands as Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors and Etro, among others.
The so-called Luxury Avenue has gone stronger at a regional level, thanks to events like Vogue en Vivo (Live Vogue), a strategy the mall mapped out together with Condé Nast Traveler back in 2013.
In August last year, the inaugural function was attended by actress Eva Longoria.
For the grand opening of the Luxury Avenue expansion, Multiplaza will be presenting a Carolina Herrera runway show, to be attended by Carolina Herrera de Baez. Furthermore, the mall is working on a campaign with Daniella Kosán.
In the course of ten years, Multiplaza has developed more than 105,000 square meters of commercial areas, including the addition of big-time international brands. “Our shopping mall started out with 150 stores in 2004. Ten years later, we now have 350 stores,” said Rosales.
As many as 130 more stores will join the portfolio of Soho Mall, which is part of Soho Panama, a compound that’s home to the abovementioned shopping mall and will soon offer a luxury hotel, office towers and a casino.
According to the project’s developers, the new shopping mall will feature stores divided in three tiers, including one for premium establishments and specialized brands. Both newcomers and luxury brands with longstanding presence in Panama will sign up for this new commercial adventure. The mall’s no-frills architecture will have a single main corridor and a two-story building.
Lots of other well-known brands, like Banana Republic, Gap, Bebe, Vince Camuto and Kenneth Cole, have also set up shop in Albrook Mall, another of the major shopping malls in the nation’s capital. Make no mistakes about it: luxury is here to stay in Panama.