Zippo opens flagship store in Tianjin

Reports that rising costs are inhibiting China's capital inflow can be countered by the establishment of a new Zippo store in Tianjin.

This is even more so as the iconic American brand, known worldwide for its lighters, is not moving to China to exploit the vast labor force or other human resources.

With the opening of the flagship store in a fixer-upper department store in this vibrant second-tier city, Zippo is also pitching a new line of products to the Chinese market — menswear.

The store, located in a corner of the well-known department store chain, is meticulously decorated with ambient lighting and maple-wood floors with dummy license plates from all 50 US states' hanging on walls and a motorcycle displayed on a raised podium. Most of the merchandise on display, at first glance, is apparel, until one looks more closely to see glass-covered counters which house myriads of lighters.

In an exclusive interview, CEO Gregory Booth told China Daily that although he's satisfied with sales increases in such countries as India, China's growth has seriously surpassed other countries in the past 20 years for lighter sales. "The Chinese people love American elements, and that's why we have a huge increase in sales of lighters and we thought American icons aren't limited to lighters," he said.

"We have consulting firms in both the US and China to tell us where to find the next retail location."

"We sell apparel in Pennsylvania too and its nice to have it sold here in Tianjin, and we predict that the revenue from China will constitute 30 percent of the company's total revenue in the next few years."

Booth's upbeat forecast is backed up by statistics. The success of their Qingdao store has given Zippo confidence and the opening in Tianjin was anticipated. Fifteen percent of the company's revenue is now coming from China and doubling that figure seems possible given the country's last 30 years of rapid development. Sixty percent of the company's revenues now comes from overseas.