Busloads of Chinese tourists used to visit L.A. luxury stores. Not anymore
LOS ANGELES - Chong Hing Jewelers is conspicuously empty. Mandarin-speaking staff stand idly behind the San Gabriel store's glittering display cases, waiting for busloads of luxury shoppers from China who may never come.
It's the same story several doors down at House of Italy Jewelry - a vacant store and listless workers, both of whom say that they have only recently arrived from China themselves.
David Lee, chairman and chief executive of Hing Wa Lee Group, which has another jewelry store not far away, said that Chinese tourists now make up about a fifth of sales at his jewelry businesses, down from roughly half in years past.
"I had days with literally hundreds (of Chinese tourists) coming through my stores," Lee said. "That changed maybe one to two years ago, and now everyone is experiencing fewer."
The reason: Xi Jinping. Though China's president is no fashion
