When Gibbons Company opened its Kenneth Cole store last week, yet another foreign brand name joined a growing list of store names that have begun to crop up in the city of Hamilton. From Benetton to Max Mara, Louis Vuitton to FCUK, such names now feature almost as prominently on local streets as do the old Bermuda names such as Trimingham's, Coopers and Gibbons.

Some may question whether the presence of stores which are already so prominent in North America and Europe are helping to erode Bermuda's unique identity, but retailers say the stores help rather than hinder the Island's appeal to locals and tourists alike. Pierre Dutoya, general manager of Hornberg Calypso - the owner of Benetton, Voila Longchamps and Calypso - has recently seen his company open the foreign stores Max Mara and French Connection.

"You need to look at the consumer," he said, adding that besides such overseas brands, the Island has little more to offer than Bermuda shorts and gimmicky souvenir T-shirts.

"Women want to be different so automatically you need to have a variety of shops and recognition in brands so even if you go into the big department stores you find names now," he said.

Mr. Dutoya adds that small shops such as those owned by his company do well on the island because each carries unique high end merchandise that is not offered anywhere else on the island.

Even so some may question why such stores are allowed on an island that fought so hard to keep foreign restaurants out. Years ago, lawyer and politician Trevor Moniz was among those to fight then Premier Sir John Swan's plan to McDonalds to the Island. He and his colleagues strengthened a law that had originally been penned after politician Ralph Marshall successfully opened a Kentucky Fried Chicken on the island.

Mr. Moniz told The Royal Gazette yesterday that the McDonald's controversy prompted the passage of The Prohibited Restaurant's Act for two reasons.

"One was the aspect of a politician gaining advantage for himself and the other one is the image of these fast food franchise restaurants was not one that would match up with Bermuda's high class image," Mr. Moniz said. "It applies specifically to chain restaurants which it was felt obviously lowered the image or Bermuda. They produced relatively low quality food in terms of nutrition and wholesomeness and were downscale, cheap and cheerful."

Mr. Moniz says, however, that when it comes to clothing stores, the view may be a little different.

"A lot of these stores coming in are very upmarket to the extent that the European companies may be attractive to American visitors who see Bermuda as British and more European influenced and therefore different."

Mr. Moniz questioned, however, whether all of the brand name stores pay heed to the 60/40 rule.

"Who really owns the shop? Is it a simple licensing of the use of a name and the sales of a product or is it a store really owned by a foreigner and not owned by a Bermudian at all?" he said. "Now one suspects that in some of these cases that it is really owned by the overseas people and the question is who is putting the money in and getting the profit out and who really controls how it is operated."

The Royal Gazette asked Finance Secretary Donald Scott to address our questions about such stores, but he did not respond by Press time. However, Paula Clarke, chief merchandising officer for Gibbons Company was quick to point out that in the instance of their new store, while it may say Kenneth Cole, the owner's name is 100 percent Gibbons Company. "This is not a franchise," she said. "We own everything. We own the property and we buy the inventory."

Ms Clarke said that Gibbons Company decided to devote an entire store space to a single brand name because they were pressed for space inside the department store and wanted to take advantage of the retail-zoned spot vacated by Capital G.

"We have many brand names within the store and there is really no difference," she said: "This is not a franchise. It is a brand name. Instead of having Kenneth Cole within our ladies department, within our men's department and in the accessories department we have brought it all together and created its own environment."

Barbara Finsness, who co-owns The Island Shop with her husband Ken, has mixed feelings however about the presence of so many brand name stores in Bermuda. She personally designs about 80 percent of the goods sold in her store and strives to ensure the rest of the merchandise is as unique as possible from that sold here and abroad. She said: "It is really to our advantage that people continue [to open such stores because that makes our store all the more distinctive. Almost every other person who comes to our store says they are there to find something that is different and that is one of the reasons they want to shop in the spot they are travelling in," she said.

"In a way it is to our advantage that all of the retailers continue to have the same formula and that is to look elsewhere for ideas." While the upscale retailers like Kenneth Cole, Coach or Louis Vuitton will appeal to the local market, she questions whether they would appeal to tourists who already have such stores available at home. She said: "I would rather see people being a little more creative here. I would love to see beautiful boutiques and individualism. There are lots of creative people here capable of it, but the problem is that creative people don't always end up with the people who have the finances to start stores."