It is just before 10am in the upmarket mall close to Wangfujing Street, Beijing's main shopping area. Assistants are out in force cleaning the store windows before opening time.
A few minutes later, immaculately dressed and smiling salespeople welcome the first customers of the day to the Agatha, Citizen and Piaget outlets, along with many other stores.
For anyone seeking a watch costing several hundred thousand yuan, or an exclusive cashmere scarf, or those keen just to window-shop and daydream about a life very different from their own, this is the place to come.
"Because the Chinese economy is so strong, there are more and more people who want these luxury brands," says Catherine Luo, a 40-something from Sichuan province clutching a Chanel handbag as she browses the stores with her young daughter. "My favourite ones include LV and City."
While Ms Luo has travelled to Beijing for her shopping, she says she expects to find the top brands opening stores in central and western parts of China as the economic boom spreads nationwide.
Just opposite, Qi Shuqin, 65, a teacher, and her husband have been looking inside a store called Time City, which sells watches such as Tag Heuer and Girard-Perregaux.
A couple of decades ago, she says, Chinese people "weren't interested at all" in luxury items. "A lot depends on your age. Some of my students like luxury brands. The young generation are more focused on them."
With China continuing to enjoy near double-digit economic growth, disposable incomes are expanding, and the status-conscious middle class enjoys flaunting its wealth.
It is no wonder luxury sales in China increased 14 per cent last year to US$10.7 billion (Dh39.3bn), according to state media, ranking the country in second place globally.
But then, there is no need to head out to the expensive shopping malls or car dealerships to see the growing presence of luxury brands in greater China. The Asian bourses tell the story on their own.
In particular, luxury brands looking to secure financing for expansion have turned to the Hong Kong stock exchange, an appropriate choice given that that city is a magnet for buyers of luxury goods. Among the high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs) Hong Kong this year, Prada grabbed the biggest headlines. In June, the Italian fashion company raised $2.1bn in an issue that was, according to reports, five times oversubscribed.
Next up was the luggage group Samsonite, which proved less of a hit. The company's share price fell 11 per cent when trading began.
As many as 30 more IPOs are believed to be planned by retail companies with a heavy presence in the Chinese retail sector.
They have partly been inspired by the success of the Hong Kong-based Milan Station, whose IPO in May was oversubscribed 2,180 times - a record for the territory's stock exchange. The fashion group, which followed the tradition among Chinese luxury goods companies of giving themselves foreign-sounding names, buys and resells second-hand handbags.
The IPO, involving the sale of a quarter of the company, raised HK$271 million (Dh127.9m), cash that will be used to open two dozen stores on the mainland.
Yet despite the growth, there are questions over the luxury sector in mainland China. High tariffs and the cachet linked to products bought overseas mean that many shoppers prefer to make their brand purchases in Hong Kong or even Dubai.
Forty-three per cent of the luxury spending by Chinese consumers takes place on home turf. "There are lots of outlets in China, but to a large extent these are showcases," says Kineta Hung, an associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, whose interests include retail and consumer behaviour. "The salespeople more or less expect you to look at the products, try them out, but you would go to Hong Kong to buy them."
On the island province of Hainan in southern China, a duty-free policy has been introduced on a trial basis, although Ms Hung says there are complications.
"Some people who shop there have concerns," she says. "If the price is down, there's the piracy issue. You don't know if you're getting the real bags."
Perhaps of wider concern is the potential for China's runaway economic growth to cool as Beijing tries to put the brakes on and fears of another global downturn mount.
Jitters over this have in recent months put heavy dents in the share prices of brands such as the British chain Burberry and other luxury-goods companies.
Just as the top fashion groups were looking to China as their saviour in the face of stalling growth in Europe and other established markets, they are finding the world's most populous nation could be in for a modest cooling of its own.
There are also other problems facing upmarket brands.
According to Liu Jiahui, a Beijing store manager with the watch maker Sea-Gull, which manufacturers timepieces that retail for up to 300,000 yuan (Dh172,700), the chain often faces difficulties in opening outlets.
Foreign rivals, she says, sometimes tell shopping malls or department stores they will leave if Sea-Gull, which is Chinese owned, is allowed floorspace.
"This is the challenge to this brand," she says. "We have to open [our own] retail stores instead of in some of these department stores."
So Chinese luxury brands are likely to continue to face difficulties.
"Definitely the Chinese brands need more time to build up," says Ms Hung. "They have to think 'do I really want to focus on the luxury market?' Right now it's probably hard to get into the luxury market, and there's a lot more opportunity for the Chinese brands in the middle market."
