Inditex Industria de Diseño Textil : Zara integrates technology and tradition in a renovated store in the heart of Bilbao

Zara is due to open a new flagship store in Bilbao tomorrow. The establishment, located at Gran Vía 23, has a floor area of nearly 5,000m2 spread out over three floors housing the Women's (ground floor), Men's (first floor) and Kids (second floor) collections. The store is a good example of how the brand continually fine-tunes its sales footprint, selecting well-differentiated establishments on the world's most prominent shopping streets.

With the goal of recouping the essence of the prototypical architectural heritage of Bilbao, Zara has remodelled this century-old building, restoring its decorative features and giving the entire building a coherent appearance that draws from its original façades. Some of the most noteworthy attributes are the main stairwell, the chapel, the fireplace, the light fittings and eight of the original pillars, which have been preserved in their entirety. The stain glass and the original decorations on some of the ceilings, walls and floors have been repaired.

This flagship, which becomes lighter in feel as one moves from the older to the newer part of the building, boasts four entrances: one on Gran Vía, one on Astarloa and two on Gardoqui. Its ground floor, some 95 metres long, is the longest of any Zara store in the world.

An eco-efficient approach
This new store is framed by Inditex's most stringent green building standards. In line with the group's environmental strategy and commitments, it delivers power and water savings of 20% and 40% compared to a conventional store, respectively. To ensure that its eco-efficient stores stay on track to deliver the consumption targets set, they are all monitored centrally from the Group's efficiency platform located in Zara's head offices in Arteixo, La Coruña.