The New New Bond Street Photos by Jonathan Player for The New York Times Chanel, top right, has just opened its 12,600-square-foot New Bond Street store, joining a gold rush on the street set off by Louis Vuitton in 2010. Rents have been setting records, forcing out longstanding tenants like Mallett Antiques. The new Chanel store in London, which opened in June at 158-159 New Bond Street, spans 12,600 square feet and boasts a three-story dangling strand of Coco-inspired glass "pearls." On a Saturday several weeks ago, a group of Muslim women in silky white headscarves entered the V.I.P. fitting room after a pot of tea in the lounge and a tour of a series of rooms decorated to replicate the Paris apartment of the famous designer. Lining the street outside the black and white awnings of Chanel were numerous drivers dressed in uniforms, complete with caps and security ear pieces, waiting patiently beside Jaguars, Bentleys and Maseratis, their eyes darting up and down the street as they waited for their employers to emerge from Burberry, Gucci, Boodles, Tiffany's and Asprey, to name just a few of the many luxury stores on Bond Street. When a parking-meter attendant warned one chauffeur that a ticket would be forthcoming if he did not move his Rolls-Royce off the double yellow line, the driver dismissed him with a wave - the cost hardly worth the inconvenience to his boss. Welcome to Bond Street, or what the New West End Company, which represents 600 retailers in the area, calls "the highest proportion of "haute couture" stores per square mile in the world." It is a figure that reflects the retail space race currently taking place between uber-brands on Bond Street. Next door to Chanel, at 160 New Bond Street, Dior is in the process of renovating its upper floors in an effort to double its retail space. A short stroll away at No. 135-137, the finishing touches are being put on Belstaff's superstore set to open Sunday. The British brand, known for its motorcycle jackets worn by Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, hopes its 25,000-square-foot lodging (to be called Belstaff House) will give it the luxury label status it has been coveting. Soon, it will be joined by Fendi, which is set to open at No. 141-142 New Bond Street in November, followed by an improved Ermenegildo Zegna, which has won planning permission to demolish its store at 37-38 New Bond and rebuild with 60 percent more space. Setting off this trend was Louis Vuitton, which opened its 16,000-square-foot megastore in May 2010 at 17-20 New Bond Street. Interestingly, it was designed by the New York biker rebel architect Peter Marino, as was the new Chanel store, and as is the coming Zegna and Dior. People are now calling this area "the Golden Mile," said Tatiana Fokina, the chief executive of Hedonism Wines, a 10,000-square-foot wine and spirits store (with a chandelier made of 125 handblown Riedel wineglasses) that opened in August 2012 around the corner on Davies Street. "All the hedge fund offices, private bankers and top lawyers are based around here," Ms. Fokina said, "as well as their clients and friends who like to shop while they are in London." Bond Street has long been a fashionable shopping thoroughfare and as such, no stranger to wealth. Established in 1683 by a developer, Sir Thomas Bond, the southern half, though technically called Bond Street, is now often referred to as Old Bond Street, while the northern section, added some 40 years later, has always been called New Bond Street. It is full of centuries-old brands, from auction houses like Sotheby's and Bonhams, to traditional stationery shops like Smythson and Montblanc. But area merchants now worry that, as it caters more and more to high net worth individuals, it is losing its chronicled charm. Indeed, the 1920s "no splash; no glitter; one roll of tweed in the shop" Bond Street that fascinated Virginia Woolf's character Clarissa in her novel "Mrs. Dalloway" is increasingly hard to find these days as rents rise to astronomical levels. Last year, Salvatore Ferragamo set a record of £1,000 (roughly $1,550) a square foot, until the Swiss jeweler Boghossian quickly topped it at £1,050 a square foot. Meanwhile, Belstaff, part of the Labelux brand that owns Jimmy Choo, paid £840 a square foot for its town house. The rent for retail space on New York's Fifth Avenue, according to Cushman & Wakefield, is currently around $2,500 a square foot.