In the 1990s, designers such as Diane von Furstenberg and Alexander McQueen transformed New York's Meatpacking District into a high-end shopping haven. Similarly, an increasing number of luxury retailers, deterred by the challenging property market, are today moving out of the main shopping areas and into niche neighbourhoods. These pioneers often have more than practicality in mind.

Lucian James, of brand strategists Agenda Inc, says: “Luxury brands are finding they can make more of a statement by going into new neighbourhoods, and designers have finally broken free of their zip codes.”

The American jeans-and-T-shirt brand Abercrombie & Fitch made one of the first big moves back in 2007. Opening a London branch not on predictable Regent Street or King's Road but on exclusive Savile Row caused uproar amid the tailoring establishment. Yet it has proved so successful that the company has also opened stores in Milan's Golden Triangle and Tokyo's Ginza district, continuing to align itself with luxury players in upmarket districts.