Handbags at 30 paces on Champs Elysees

A handbag war has broken out between Louis Vuitton, manufacturer of the world's most sought-after leather goods, and Asian tourists, making money by reselling the gold and brown status symbols back home.

The Louis Vuitton shop on the Champs Elysees in Paris - perpetually besieged by Asian customers - has introduced sales quotas and banned serial bag buyers to preserve its limited stock for genuine, one-off shoppers.

To circumvent the rules, Japanese visitors have taken to stopping French women in the street and offering them up to £100 ($330) to queue several times and buy several Louis Vuitton bags.

"I made a good living for several months buying bags and wallets for Japanese," Eloise, 25, told the newspaper Le Figaro. "They were not allowed into the shop any more so they gave me 10 per cent to queue up for them."

A modest handbag which costs £60 in Paris can be resold for £100 or more in Japan. There is a particular cachet for wealthy, young Asians in having a bag bought on the Champs Elysees.

Louis Vuitton has two other shops in Paris, which are popular with French and other European customers but largely ignored by Asian tourists.

The shop on the Champs Elysees has an average of 3000 customers a day - mostly young, well-dressed Japanese and other Asian tourists who often queue for hours at a time.

Louis Vuitton denies that it has a quota system but says: "We have decided to satisfy as many customers as possible, rather than individuals who buy 10 bags at once."

Sales of monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbags and wallets - the most-sought-after items - have been restricted to one per customer.

Cash sales are limited to £100 a time. Buyers identified as returning to the shop too often are banned.

Eloise told Le Figaro that she imagined the bags were being resold for a profit in Japan but she was not sure.

"All I know is that they would take the products from me with a look of absolute ecstasy on their faces.'

- INDEPENDENT