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Versace Returns To Madrid’s Golden Mile

8 June 2015 – Expansión

Opening on Serrano / The luxury brand returns to the capital’s most exclusive shopping district, after closing its first store there a decade ago.

One of the leaders in the luxury fashion industry is returning to Madrid. The Italian firm Versace has just signed the lease for a store on Madrid’s exclusive Calle Serrano. The opening of the shop means the return of the firm, which closed its first stores in Madrid and Barcelona in 2005.

The company led by Donatella Versace has already taken the first steps in its return to the Spanish market with the opening of a store in Puerto Banús (Marbella) and on Paseo de Gracia, 85 in Barcelona.

Now, it has just signed the lease for a shop located on Calle Serrano, 16, where its neighbours will include other luxury brands such as Longchamp, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton and Loewe. (…)

The store is currently being refurbished following the departure of its previous tenant, the Catalan firm Custo. Prior to that, it was occupied by another Spanish fashion group, Hoss Intropia. Following the refurbishment, which has been commissioned by the family office that owns the building, Versace will have a store with more than 500 m2 of space in the most exclusive shopping district of Madrid. As such, experts forecast that the firm will pay a rent of around €1 million per year.

The arrival of Versace is not the only big move happening on the city’s Golden Mile over the next few months. The firm Macson, which specialises in menswear, will take over from Massimo Dutti at Serrano, 17. Macson, which is headquartered in Madrid, will become the tenant of the store measuring 550 m2, after Inditex’s high-end brand moved to number 46. The change at that address (Serrano, 46) will be from one brand of Amancio Ortega’s group to another, since Zara used to lease the property, until it opened its flagship store at number 23, Calle Serrano. The opening of that property, a year ago, marked the launch of Zara’s first flagship store in Spain, following the opening of several flagship stores around the world, including in New York, Milan and Shanghai. Another Spanish firm, Mango, is also preparing to open its own flagship store on one of Spain’s most expensive retail streets.

Availability

“The completion of the refurbishment work has given way to frenetic change, with 24 new store openings in 2014 alone, and with very limited levels of availability, which has caused rents to increase, to reach €220/m2/month”, explain sources at Ascana.

There are currently three stores in the same building (Calle Serrano, 7) that are awaiting tenants. In total, the three premises have a surface area of 10,000 m2, which will undoubtedly be snapped up soon given the furore currently surrounding Madrid’s Golden Mile.

Original story: Expansión (by Rocío Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake