Upmarket women’s clothes store Calypso is set to reopen next week after a makeover.

The Front Street fixture has been closed for around two weeks for modernisation.

Pierre Dutoya, chief executive officer of store owners Hornburg Calypso, said the high fashion store was due some modernisation, with a new Italian ceramic tiled floor replacing the dated plastic finish previously used.

“It was an old-fashioned floor with a platform which was a bit of a booby trap for the customers,” he said.

“It was time to put everything flat and on the same level. It will be safer and fresh looking.”

He added: “We changed the paint and the door as well — nothing major, but the place will look different.”

Hornburg Calypso also runs Voila, Longchamp, MaxMara, Sisley, Benetton, French Connection and Women’s Secret stores in the city.

Mr Dutoya said modernisation of Calypso was timely in light of the upcoming America’s Cup and renewed efforts to boost the lucrative air arrival tourism business.

“We hope to have people with deeper pockets spending and this will help make up for all the expats who left the island due to the recession.

“The expat market is a key, important thing for the industry, as well as for supermarkets, restaurants and the rest of the retail business.”

Mr Dutoya said that, while cruise ship tourist numbers had increased, they did not represent the tourist market likely to spend a lot in island stores.

“The only really valuable tourists are the air arrivals — flights, taxis, hotels and they go shopping. It’s an entirely different kind of customer compared to cruise ships.”

And he said: “We hope the America’s Cup will put Bermuda on the map of the world and make a lot of people curious to come and see it.

“We see more progress in the marketing of Bermuda over the last two years, but it was abandoned for 20 years and there was a lack of understanding of the luxury market.”

He said moves to introduce two-seater minicars for tourists and increased investment in hotels were signs the country was beginning to tackle problems facing the tourism sector.