Distinguished Spanish pearl brand Majorica, a long-time leader in global travel retail jewelry, opened its first U.S. store last week, situated in the upper level of Miami’s famed Aventura Mall.
With a rich heritage spanning more than a century, every Majorica pearl is organic and each piece of its elegant jewelry is hand-crafted.
“After meticulous market research and in-depth data analysis, we have strategic-ally selected Miami, Florida as the inaugural hub for expanding Majorica’s distribution across the United States. Aventura Mall stands as an ideal gateway, granting us access to a dynamic blend of guests who already hold a keen apprecia-tion for our brand,” reveals Elena Stungis, Vice President of Sales for the U.S., Canada, and TR Americas.
“With great enthusiasm, we are excited to offer our extensive assortment of more than 700 items, tailored to cater to the diverse tastes and preferences of pearl aficionados. We have even created an exclusive necklace just for the Aventura Mall store opening!”
Majorica has a strong connection to travel retail. Stungis tells TMI that as many as 90% of the clients who enter the Majorica store say that they already knew the brand, either from purchasing it or receiving it as a gift from Spain, or from seeing the pearl jewelry on a cruise ship or other travel venue.
“So there are many, many people who have actually discovered the brand while traveling and visiting in duty free shops.”
In general, about 50% of the visitors to Aventura Mall are travelers.
“They are traveling from other states, or from Europe or Latin America. Some brands say that 60-70% of their Aventura Mall customers are travelers,” she says. “Aventura Mall’s press agency works very tightly with tourism departments of Miami Dade County because they know that this is the customer.”
In fact, the majority of the customers that shop with Majorica are either from Colombia, Venezuela or out-of-state and here on holidays, she says.
Majorica has been selling in the U.S. through other stores, and says that its expansion into the United States with its own store is a “monumental” step.
The brand is currently in about 70 countries post-pandemic, and Stungis says that she is looking for some new distributors in South America.
“We are also coming back on the cruise ships. In airports we recently restarted with Aer Rianta in Montreal and are in conversations with Dufry.
“However, we feel that in the Americas our main target is to develop the brand in the shopping centers of the United States and Canada, and we plan to roll out the business model we set up in Miami. We are also going back into department stores,” says Stungis.
Majorica is also distributed on Saksfifthavenue.com, Neimanmarcus.com, among others, and has recently relaunched the Majorica U.S. website.
“Fashion trends are just creating this wave that we are taking advantage of,” confirms Stungis.
“The modern designs that we develop with our research and development team, that we come up with on a regular basis, also attract new younger and more modern customers. Majorica is for everyone, so we’ve never been limited. And we start with the babies.”
The Grand Opening of the store was followed by an invitation-only event at a private venue in Aventura Mall, featuring a spectacular runway fashion show by Paola Estefania, the Miami-based Venezuelan-born designer known for her swimwear, bridal and Haute Couture fashions worn by celebrities and a prestigious list of international clientele. Twelve stunning models, draped in Estefania fashions and Majorica pearls showcased Estefania’s S/S24 collection.
The program also featured a special performance by singer Maria Jaume, who was flown in from Mallorca exclusively to perform at the event, which was hosted by Elena Stungis and Majorica CEO Didier Grupposo.
Several members of the Spanish Consulate and Trade Commission were also in attendance.
