The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Spanish fast fashion retailer Inditex on Thursday relaunched its business in Venezuela with the opening of a Zara store via a franchise agreement.
In 2021, Inditex, which also owns Bershka, Pull & Bear and other brands, closed all the group’s shops in the South American country, following a revised franchise agreement with then local partner Phoenix World Trade.
The company confirmed in January that it planned to restart activities in Venezuela in the first half of 2024 with local partner Grupo Futura.
“I was waiting for Zara to open, I frequently shopped there when it was in the city,” said Deisy Hartaona, 56, who thronged with hundreds of other customers in Venezuela’s capital as she searched the store for shoes.
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By Mayela Armas; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Daniel Wallis
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Zara Stores Return to Venezuela After Hyperinflation Is Tamed
Local franchise operator Grupo Futura will have its first outlet up and running in an upscale Caracas mall before July, according to Zara’s parent company Industria de Diseno Textil SA., or Inditex.
Though e-commerce reshaped retailing in the US and Europe even before the pandemic, a confluence of economic, financial and logistical circumstance kept the South American nation insulated from the trend until later.
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