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La Rinascente, a member of the IADS for 49 years until 2008, was purchased by Central Retail Corporation in 2011. It remains the only European department store company under Central Retail (also including Central Department Store, Robinson Department Store, Supersports, CMG), as the other companies in the European portfolio belong to the Central Department Store business unit.

Since the acquisition, it has followed an active strategy of going upmarket, not only to differentiate from the only other Italian competitor (Coin) but also to take advantage of the specificities of the Italian market, especially its strong tourism basei : the flagship store in Milan, which accounts for more than half of the group’s turnover, is a must-see for any foreign visitor.

Now, with nine stores across Italy, the company is doing well: it announced record 2023 sales, reaching 1bn€, a hefty +14% increase from the previous record set in 2019. After conducting an extensive campaign of store openings and renovations across its store fleet between 2017 and 2023, the company announced at the end of 2024 the acquisition of “Odeon”, a former 3,000 sqm cinema in Milan, to be refurbished and host the Duomo flagship store cosmetics offer by mid-2027

Taking the opportunity of a partner visit in Milan, the IADS visited the store last Christmas to assess the current situation.

A flaming debut

“La Rinascente” is the company's second name, which was initially called Aux Villes d’Italie in 1877, to be Italianised in 1880 (Alle Città d’Italia).

Everything started in 1865 when the Bocconi brothers opened a small clothing store selling men’s suits in Milan. Success was immediate, and branches were opened in Rome, Genova, Trieste, Palermo and Turin. The Milan operations morphed into a department store in 1877 as the Bocconi inspired themselves from Boucicault’s Au Bon Marché, only to be transferred to the current location in Piazza Duomo in 1889.

Following a bustling but poorly funded expansion, aggravated by WWI, the Bocconi brothers sold the business in 1917 to Senatore Borletti, a member of the second generation of the iconic Italian entrepreneurial dynasty (Maurizio Borletti, a fifth-generation member, was President of La Rinascente between 2005 and 2011). As soon as the acquisition was finalised, Borletti asked Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio to come up with a new name: La Rinascente was registered in September 1917, to offer high-quality products at reasonable prices to the then-emerging middle class. What could have been a simple rebranding became a prophecy in December 1918 when the Milan store was burnt to ashes in a fire just before its grand reopening, calling for a new debut and injecting a new meaning into the company's name.

While the Milan store was being rebuilt, Borletti focused on revamping the existing seven stores (Turin, Genova, Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples, Palermo) between 1919 and 1920, and opened new ones: Padova (1923), Catania (1923), Messina (1924), Bari (1925), Piazza Loreto in Milan, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome, Taranto, Syracuse, and Trapani (all between 1927 and 1928). However, innovation began in the Piazza Duomo store: it reopened with innovative services for the era (a bank, a hair salon, a tea room and a post office) in 1921.

In the same year when IADS was created, La Rinascente teamed up with German-based department store company Leonhard Tietz (another IADS member from 1930 to 1939) to create “Unico Prezzo Italiano Milano”, a fixed-priced store known as UPIM, in 1928. It shortly merged with UPIM into a new company, of which the Swiss-based department store Jelmoli was a shareholder. This period also corresponds with an optimisation of the store fleet: the new company counted in 1931 five Rinascente stores and 25 UPIM ones, and in 1941, 52 UPIM stores and five Rinascente units.

WWII hit the company badly: Genova, Cagliaro and the Milano Duomo stores were destroyed, and only the Rome store and 37 UPIM units remained operational at the end of the war. Recovery was quick: the Duomo store reopened in 1950, with a façade designed by Ferdinando Reggiori and the windows by Carlo Pagani. The company thrived in the post-war period under the watch of the Borletti clan: Umberto Brustio, Senatore Borletti’s son-in-law, took the rein at the death of the latter in 1939, and then Aldo Borletti, Senatore’s son, took over in 1957. It was all about culture: La Rinascente was famous for its events dedicated to countries (Spain, Japan, Mexico…) and also for launching the world-famous Compasso d’Oro design award in 1954, in a move similar to what Galeries Lafayette and Printemps did in the 1930s.

In 1961, La Rinascente group diversified by creating the SMA Supermarket chain, following a national craze for this new distribution format introduced in Italy in 1957. The Borletti family sold the group, composed of five La Rinascente, 150 UPIM stores and 54 SMA Supermarkets, to the Agnelli’s investment vehicle (the founders of FIAT), and the Mediobanca bank. It opened a period of rapid expansion: a new hypermarket format in 1972, the acquisition of JC Penney’s Italy in 1977 (four stores), a new DYI format in 1983, until the FIAT group split in 2005 and the Rinascente group restructured under the helm of ‘Associated Investors Group’, composed of Italian investors including Maurizio Borletti. With the help of Vittorio Radice, the GM, La Rinascente revamped the Milano Duomo store with international architects renovating each floor in 2006 (India Madhavi for the ground floor, Studio Mumbai for the first floor, Rodolfo Dordoni for the second floor and Vincent Van Duysen for the third one, with plans to continue upwards), the opening of a food hall in 2007 and the “Design Supermarket”, a new lifestyle retail space, in 2009.

The company was sold to Central Retail Corporation in 2011 for €205m (after divesting from UPIM in 2010, which was sold to Coin), with a plan to expand its store coverage in Italy. New stores opened in Rome (2017), Turin (2019), and Florence (2020), expanding the network to 9 units in Italy located in 8 cities, ranging between 3,000 and 22,000 sqm.

The Rinascente business unit achieved 1bn€ in sales in 2023, with all stores growing over 2022 (including Milan, +19%) and a significant EBITDA growth of +70%. Luxury accessories and beauty are among the top-performing categories for the chain, which is characterised by a particular store layout policy: each floor is conceived and designed by a specific architect or designer. Twenty architects contributed to the renovation (or the creation) of the Turin, Florence, Milan Duomo and the two Rome stores between 2017 and today. Consequently, each store experience is unique (a feat also echoed by a careful integration into the local activities, such as the Rinascente Florence store partnership with the Pitti show) and relates well to the notion of Italian design and arte de vivere that the chain advertises. No wonder the CEO Pierluigi Cocchini talks about a “collection of department stores” rather than a chain, with each store unique in its design and offering.

Central Retail Corporation has brought La Rinascente to international fame and recognition through the launch of “Rinascente on Demand”, a chat and shop Whatsapp-based service launched in 2020 that connects global customers with staff located in Italy and ships internationally. The group claims to have achieved 45m€ in omnichannel sales in 2023.

The 22,000 sqm Milan Duomo flagship store, which draws in 8.3m visitors a year and represents more than half of the group’s revenue, announced at the end of 2024 the opening of a new unit in a former cinema, the Odeon, planned for 2027. The plan is to transfer 300+ make-up, skincare and fragrance brands, which are currently presented on the ground floor of the main building and in the Annex, to a three-floor unit of 3,200 sqm. In doing so, the company hopes to attract 3m visitors a year and expand the beauty business to 80m€ in the first year, from 50m€ in the Milan store today, and a total target of 130m€+. This will also allow the main store to evolve by reallocating the cosmetics space to luxury accessories and jewellery, doubling it to 2,150 sqm and potentially enabling the business to grow from 200m€ to 370m€.

The total investment announced is 40m€, including 30m€ for the Odeon project and 10m€ for the revamp of the ground floor in the Duomo building.

Visiting La Rinascente

La Rinascente was one of Europe's first luxury department stores to offer full takeovers to luxury brands, often with great results. No wonder, therefore, that, at the time of the visit (Christmas 2024), the store was fully decorated with Dior Parfums decors and branding on the façade and windows, complete with a pop-up in the basement of the department store. Interestingly, this collaboration with La Rinascente was only part of Dior Parfum’s plan, as the brand also sponsored the Christmas tree in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele IIii .

The ground floor felt as cramped and packed as usual. In some ways, the structure of the building helps, as the surface is not that big, and the store feels larger than what it is. Consequently, the store quickly feels buzzy and energetic thanks to a crowded ground floor (but this feeling may evaporate when visiting the upper floors). Designed in 2006 by India Madhavi (and planned for a revamp once the Odeon new space is open), the floor is dedicated to cosmetics, fragrances, watches, and Louis Vuitton’s accessories that are displayed in a double-deck store (also accessible from the mezzanine).

The basement, which was renovated in 2009 with the “Design Supermarket” opening, is exciting, as it mixes F&B, luggage, design and art de vivre, tech, and plants. Except the Dior Parfum pop-up in the middle, which felt a bit out of place, located between Design and Izipizi sunglasses displays, the interesting part is coming from the fact that the whole floor offer feels natural and not artificially juxtaposed. In fact, la Rinascente considers that the Design Supermarket should combine design, luggage and sustainable living as one topic. Therefore, all categories are mingling well, including luggage, which is an interesting place to look at. Luggage is also cleverly located next to a space dedicated to La Rinascente-logoed items, playing on humour and Italy-centric nostalgia. For the same reason, some brand adjacencies, which might look surprising at first glance, make sense: Rimowa is located between Sonos, Vitra and Bang&Olufsen and not in the luggage section, as the brand is taken from its lifestyle angle. Finally, it is also possible to buy plants in a dedicated section facing the restaurant and café, bringing a feeling of nature in a fully artificial, underground environment without natural light.

The mezzanine, designed by India Madhavi, displays luxury items and accessories and felt empty at the time of visit (one week before Christmas) even though the ground floor was packed. On that floor, there is a multi-brand section dedicated to brands ranging from Longchamp to Versace and Givenchy, that also boasts a large Santa Maria Novella stand, the only brand selling perfumes at this floor.

The first floor is dedicated to men’s luxury and was designed in 2006 by Studio Mumbai. The second floor, designed in 2006 by Rodolfo Dordoni and redone in 2023 by Studio Andrew Trotter, is also dedicated to menswear and accessories. Interestingly, it is obvious that the focus was placed on giving a sense of natural lighting on the floor, but at the detriment of products: the white zenithal lighting gives a nice outdoorsy feeling but prevents highlighting a section or a product in particular.

The third floor, designed by Vincent Van Duysen in 2006 and dedicated to luxury womenswear, shoes and accessories, is more coherent from a lighting point of view and offers a rather classical use of branded low-rise display units. This gives a much-needed sense of space on a floor where the ceiling's low height is felt. The fourth and fifth floors, dedicated to other women categories, were designed by Studiopepe in 2021 for the fourth level and David Chipperfield in 2020 for the fifth floor. Some brand adjacencies are interesting, such as a selection of sports shoes and sneakers from Autry, located between Rag & Bone and Max Mara.

The sixth floor is dedicated to homeware, including bed accessories and tableware. The seventh floor mixes gourmet food, seasonal animation and rooftop bars and restaurants (an astute way to make sure that the traffic will flow vertically throughout the store – perhaps a reason why the lifts are not so efficient, and customers are often taking the escalators to go up). At the time of the visit (Christmas), a significant space of 60sqm+ was dedicated to panettones (traditional festive cakes) at the escalator exit, including branded-themed locations, suggesting that La Rinascente maximises its impact to its touristic clientele by selling a selection of products ranging from small souvenirs and entry-price point Italian food to higher ticket items.

Is Milan an ideal ecosystem for a free-standing department store?

Milan is a global hub for shopping, calling in for the latest retail mono-brand concepts. As a consequence, the cost of real estate is high. After remaining the second or third most expensive retail street in the world for years, Via Montenapoleone is now the most expensive one, topping up 5th Avenue in New York.

Milan is ambitious, too: the city is readying for the 2026 Winter Olympic games and is also looking at ambitious new projects, such as the Milano Santa Giulia mixed-use project, a 110-hectare area planned for 2034 that will add 80,000 sqm of retail space, with an investment of €4bn.

However, the city seems more a haven for mono-brand concepts than multi-brand retail, which does not fare well outside of La Rinascente.

The iconic 10 Corso Como, founded in 1991 by Carla Sozzani, was sold in 2020 to Bergamo-based retailer Tiziana Fausti, who has since then focused on international expansion while radically changing the store concept in Milan to make it more modern (the new concept was unveiled in September 2024), but probably losing some soul in the process as the store lost its specific touch (see pictures).

In a similar move, luxury fashion multi-brand retailer Antonia also focuses on Asian development. While it keeps its two locations in Milan (the latest opening in 2022), Antonia has scaled down its Italian operations, including the collaboration with Excelsior, the luxury department store launched by Coin in 2011, that she stopped in 2017 (Antonia Giacinti, Antonia’s owner, was Excelsior’s artistic director from 2011 to 2017). Excelsior itself closed its location in Milan at the end of 2018. Coin announced in 2023 that Excelsior would reopen inside a new mixed-use retail centre, The Medelan, however this is still not the case at the time of writing.

In short, La Rinascente enjoys a competitive advantage thanks to its scale. There is no real fullfrontal competition in town, with a few exceptions that cannot match the size and firepower of the department store. From that perspective, Milan is a particularity in Italy, where 52% of the luxury turnover is done through a historical network of 220 multi-brand stores nationwide, and in the world, where most, if not all, of the fashion and luxury hubs in capital cities include more than one department store.

Overall, while La Rinascente felt very efficient in attracting and entertaining a crowd mixing tourists and Italian visitors, thanks to some interesting features -especially in the basement and the top floor- it also gave a sense of its age, especially on the floors that have not been renovated recently. From the lighting perspective, the usage of space and volumes, and the store structure itselfiii , the visit left a state of disappointment in the store experience, especially after seeing the stores in other Italian cities.

In addition, using different architects for each floor leads to a very incoherent feeling that is more visible in this store than in the others, as it mixes non-renovated spaces with recently revamped ones.

While this fortunately does not translate into sales performance, more space and a store rejuvenation would be welcome as the store's sales keep growing. For that reason, the announcement of the Odeon space and the parallel revamp of the Duomo store will be worth watching, not only to understand the CEO’s vision for the company but, most importantly, as it will for sure add to the Milanese experience even more than what it is today. The only caveat is that one may wonder if an investment of €10m for the ground floor will suffice to give a complete sense of newness or if this is only the beginning of a grander plan to continue enhancing this world-class flagship location.

i: This is a synergy Central Retail plays with Thailand, which explains why La Rinascente is included in its “The 1” loyalty program.

ii : This shopping arcade links Piazza del Duomo with the Teatro alla Scala theatre.

iii: A topic where nothing much can be done, given the fact that the building itself is a protected monument

Credits: IADS (Selvane Mohandas du Ménil)