Zara arrives on rival’s home turf
Spanish fashion retailer opens Stockholm store
September 5 2003
The clash of the fashion retail titans between northern and southern Europe has take on a new dimension with Zara opening its first store in the home territory of rival Hennes & Mauritz.
The Spanish retailer has opened its first Swedish store on Hamngatan Street, one of the main streets in Stockholm.
Zara’s parent company Inditex said the Stockholm store represents a step forward in Zara’s expansion into the northern European market, where it already has stores in Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Inditex has been in the Swedish market since 1994 with its Massimo Dutti chain, which has two outlets in Sweden and one in Norway.
Zara also opened its first shop in Slovenia this week, bringing the total number of countries where Inditex has stores to 47. The company has 1,700 outlets in total, including more than 600 Zara stores.
Swedish-owned H&M opened its first store in Spain in 200, and now has more than 20 across the country. This year it has opened the first H&M store in Portugal.
