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Introduction

The IADS was invited to take part in the 2022 Future of Retail Conference organised in Athens last May by the Hellenic Federation of Retail. The Association was interviewed on stage, along with Mr Dimosthenis Boumis, the CEO of Attica, the emblematic Greek department store, and invited to discuss the future of retail in city centres.

It was also the opportunity to reconnect with old acquaintances, since the former CEO of Minion, a defunct department store in Athens, used to be a member of the IADS and is now a member of the Attica board. Attica has gone through the Covid-19 pandemic with the same difficulties as other department stores in the world and came up with a new strategy designed to rely less on international tourists (even though they remain more than welcome) and more on the local Greek clientele, from every social class. If appealing to the rich Greeks is not a head scratcher, the current social and revenue structure in Greece makes it a bit more complicated to appeal the to lower classes without losing glamour or soul.

We visited the City Link flagship, in the heart of Athens, very close to the infamous Syntagma square, in order to see how the store is implementing and executing the new strategy.

Company history: just turning 17 and already a complicated story

The Attica department store (not to be mistaken with Attica Group, owner and operator of boats) has a recent and rather complicated history, since the company (and the brand) is only 17 years-old, in spite of the flagship City Link location in the heart of Athens being located in a historical building. Just like in other countries when it comes to the history of retail, it is mainly a story of powerful men and capital management, even though it is much more condensed in time in the case of Greece.

To fully get a grasp of it, one needs to have a quick historical approach to the Greek retail market, marked in 1934 by the opening of a small kiosk, called Minion, by Ionnis Georgakas. There, he only sold products in bulk, which proved so successful that just after WWII, he was able to buy a larger location in the city centre, increasing  progressively the surface until being able to sell 120,000 references in the 1950s, with 1,000 sales associates. Minion became a European-class department store and introduced escalators, air-con and computers to Greece, in addition to allowing Greek customers to become exposed to foreign fashion and tastes, generating queues in the streets to enter what would soon become an iconic location for any Athenian.

Georgakas, a wise businessman, understood early the role of seasonal discounts as well as TV and radio advertising,  and ruined the competition of the then-ubiquitous local bazaars. Unfortunately, the iconic 9-storey store was destroyed during a fire provoked by a criminal arson in 1980, and the company was ruined. Georgakas rebuilt the store but was not able to recover from the heavy losses, and the company was nationalized in 1983. Georgakas attempted a come-back in 1991 by purchasing back the company but failed and ultimately left the following year. The company survived until 1998, before being sold to another Greek company, Elmec, which in turn was acquired by Folli Follie, which had the project to renovate the store, a project dropped in 2018. The store, left empty for more than 20 years, has been sold in 2021.

Folli Follie was founded in 1986 by Dimitris Koutsoliotsos and is famous today for its luxury jewellery, watches and  fashion accessories, sold in 95 stores across the world. Koutsoliotsos, aware that the closure of Minion had left a hole in the Greek retail market (and before opportunistically acquiring it), founded the Attica department stores company in 2005 with the City Link location and the idea to replace Minion. Due to the nature of its business, Folli Follie was able to secure exclusive distribution rights for Greece (and other countries) for some brands, such as Shiseido, which were presented in the Attica stores. In 2018, Koutsoliotsos had to resign from his role at Folli Follie, but remains involved in Attica, where he appointed Dimosthenis Boumis as CEO. Boumis, who has a finance background, founded Cosmobrand in 2011, a joint venture between Attica and himself, dedicated to the import and distribution of cosmetics and food, as well as e-commerce. The CEO appointment came in 2021 and makes Attica quite special in the worldwide landscape, with a non-family-member acting at the same time as a major stake shareholder and CEO.

Today, Attica operates 4 department stores in total, including City Link (2005), Golden Hall (2008), Tsimiski (2014) in Athens, and a location in Thessaloniki (2012). All locations sell women’s, men’s, and children’s fashion wear, footwear, beauty and accessories and are recognized by customers and brands as true luxury hotspots. According to the Greek press, the company posted a total turnover of €140m in 2021, vs €98.8m in 2020 and €180m in 2019.

Visiting the store: a true and visible improvement from a year ago

The City Link store is located in a historical building that has been part of a city centre renovation project back in 2005, helping to preserve buildings that were built just before WWII. It is structured on 8 floors and 34,000 sqm, 4,000 of which have been added in 2021, mainly to house extensions of the Women’s Fashion and the sportswear sections, in addition to new services such as a VIP room, a hair & beauty salon, and new F&B points.

The large windows on the street are inspiring, quite efficient, and open on a space which is complex due to the structure of the store: the basement and the ground floor are narrow and the whole game is to make sure that customers are naturally going into the upper floors, which is the reason why the escalators are massive and just in front of the entrance, at the risk of overlooking what is left, right and down (to the point of not having visited the basement for this review…).

The narrow ground floor displays the cosmetics offer, with all brands having a shop in shop at their concept in the periphery, including a large Byredo location at the entrance. Circulation is not easy, but sales associates are omnipresent and willing to help. Security guards, too, are very visible and can be intimidating when it comes to entering the store. Interestingly, each floor displays the whole list of brands available, which suggests a certain effort to keep it up to date of course from season to season but also in season when popups and temporary collaborations are launched.

The first floor is dedicated to formal men’s RTW, shoes and accessories. The brands are high end, such as Hugo Boss, Zegna, Kenzo or Brooks Brothers (a company in which Konstantinos Tsouvelekakis, another significant shareholder of Attica department stores, has shares). The whole floor is closed, without windows, which can be somehow oppressing, and although all brands have their own concept,  some logos obviously produced on site are not entirely perfect.

The second floor is dedicated to Men’s casual fashion, and, contrary to the first floor, has all windows opened on the main avenue (a decision taken by Boumis when he took the job) which gives light and a real sense of depth since the building is narrow and long. Interestingly, all cash desks (for those not related to the shop in shops) are located at each end of the floor (this is the case for all floors) which can be painful as customers are obliged to go through the whole floor to pay for their purchases.

The third floor has been, just like the second one renovated, but also extended, with a very efficient sportswear section (the largest in Greece) on the other side of the building (the lower floors in that building are not part of the store as they belong to the Pyraeus Bank, and are under negotiation in order to re-structure properly the store for its basement, ground, first and second floors). The whole space has been imagined as a running track and this works extremely well given the structure of the building, with very large Nike, Lacoste and Adidas shop-in-shops. The “young fashion” space is also spectacular, including the Levi’s shop-in-shop of uncommon proportions. One caveat due to the structure of the building, is that the whole space feels like a tunnel, however immersive it might be, meaning that once customers have started their journey, they might have some issues in terms of circulation and finding the staircases to go up or down.

The fourth floor is dedicated to women’s fashion, and just like the third floor, benefitted from an extension which allows displaying, in addition to the traditional names (Max Mara and all its other lines for instance) a very wide selection of local Greek brands such as Forel. The hair salon is located just behind (not the old school salon, but a very spacious, well-lit and luxurious space), just near the jewellery and small accessories section. This floor also includes a very inviting bar (serving alcohol) and an interesting Carpo shop-in-shop. Carpo deserves a special mention, as it is somehow reminiscent of what Steen & Strom has done with headwear brand Varsity, by teaming up with a local partner and is making extremely good sales thanks to its premium positioning: Carpo is all about selling Greek nuts and chocolate in very nice boxes. The space, located in front of the bar and in a section where customers can not do anything but go through, is a must-see and very well decorated. Average ticket: €80 (literally for nuts).

The fifth floor displays contemporary fashion and lingerie, with a huge Zadig & Voltaire shop-in-shop, a smart sense of merchandising (for instance, Hei Poa cream is available just near the cash desk in the swimming wear section), but the execution of the lingerie space is somehow disappointing.

The sixth floor is dedicated to kids, duty free and also gives access to a rooftop café which, although it has a very nice view, is difficult to access (in terms of escalators and time to get there) and even to find on the floor itself.

What to remember and what is next?

Even though Attica used to be considered a second-class wholesaler by brands in the past, this is no longer the case. The brand selection is good (and improving) but above all, the new floors extensions show a very modern and acute approach to retail immersion, which also explain the dense traffic in these sections at the time of visit (noon, with a scorching 30°C  temperature outside) even though the building is difficult in terms of structure.

Also, the CEO is all about increasing omnichannel capabilities but also experience spaces, as shown by the extremely well-designed café and Carpo nuts store, which are both generating a fantastic return on investment.

In terms of what’s next, the company has announced a major and ambitious plan for the next 2 years, with new store developments taking place until 2026, and, of course, the relaunch of the e-commerce activities including full omnichannel capabilities.

The e-shop, launched in 2017, is to be relaunched during summer 2022, with, in addition to a new product curation, a new technical platform allowing the interaction with physical stores, i.e. picking products bought online in stores, or dealing with products purchased in store and exchanged online. In addition, while at the beginning the e-store will be limited to cosmetics and fashion accessories, RTW will be integrated at the end of the year. This development should contribute to connecting the department store with local customers.

However, we mentioned in the introduction that tourists are always welcome, especially the customers from the Balkan countries, who might not have the same exposure to international brands at home as, for instance, Dutch or French customers. For them, the offer sold in the Thessaloniki stores will be upgraded and amplified, in order to make the most of their appetite for international brands.

Finally, Attica is planning a new opening in the hip area of Ellinikon in 2025, near Athens, where rich Athenians either own a house or enjoy the beach, 25 mn from the city centre. The massive urban renovation project includes 2 retail areas, the Vouliagmenis Mall (“Ellinikon commercial hub”, on 185,000 sqm)) and the open air Marina Galeria, on 19.000 sqm. The new department store in Marina Galeria will display on 10,000 sqm an exclusive selection of brands, completed by a series of mono-brand stores that it will lease to international luxury labels.

Conclusion

The realisation that Chinese and Russian tourists had acquired a place too central in the business forced Attica to rethink its point of differentiation. But how to do so? Can you really compete for international tourists who are spoilt in their home cities and rushing through Athens to get to the islands?

This is why the nut stand is not as anecdotical as it might seem. Attica is well aware that it needs to differentiate in order to reach the customers it targets. This goes through providing experience, but also providing the right level of prices for the right luxuries: dry fruits delicacies for local customers who might want to treat themselves with something inspiring but not to the point of buying a Chanel bag (or being able to), or the right brands to tourists coming from zones where they do not have the same choice than in central European cities.

Even though this is an ongoing journey (which will be completed by the finalization of the omnichannel capabilities in Q3 2022), Attica has made a significant step up when compared to its pre-pandemic aspect and offer. The exciting and ambitious Ellinikon project will also be something to watch closely, as it will be all about experience and entertainment.

Attica company profile

Credits: IADS (Selvane Mohandas du Ménil)