Zara SoHo: A Pioneer Concept in New York
Inditex launches the Self Check-out to pay for purchases from the fitting room.
New York’s SoHo is one of those neighborhoods that you can not miss if you ‘re in New York. SoHo (means SO-uth of HO-uston) is a vanguard place, full of exclusive art galleries and lofts where iron material is essential. A corner of Manhattan where the best brands are looking for a space and where right now is the flagship of Inditex Group.
Zara has opened the doors of one of the most important store in United States, 47,361 ft2 flagship store on 503-511 Broadway. With an unbeatable location in the heart of Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood, one of the world’s best known shopping districts, this new location on the block between Broome and Spring Streets represents some of the best late-nineteenth century retail architecture in the city. To celebrate the opening Zara has collaborated with renowned floral artist Mark Colle with a special installation for the occasion. This detail, full of colour, mingled with the amazing spring/summer 2016 collection for men, women and kids.
It was 9 o’clock of a coldly March, 3 in New York. Massive effort was made to recover the building’s landmark features. Its original cast iron façade, interior and brick wall, which now blends with a rationalist and airy interior that features beauty, clarity, functionality and sustainability, the guiding principles of Zara’s image. if we talk about beauty, we have to talk about the building that was built in 1878 by architect John B. Snook and is one of the emblematic buildings found in the area known as the SoHo Cast Iron Historic District, named for the widespread use of this material.
Also, in keeping with Inditex Group’s aim to have 100% eco-efficient stores by 2020, Zara SoHo sets the standards for highly demanding sustainability measures across all its processes, combining these efforts with energy efficiency and recycling in order to consume 30% less energy and 50% less water compared to a conventional store: “it is particularly relevant for several reasons: the quality and size of its location, the environmental component that promotes the goals of our eco-efficient store project, its design, and its technological proposal. From today forward this new flagship will undoubtedly be a global benchmark”, Pablo Isla, Inditex Chairman said.
The new store has Self Check-Out, an unique system in the world to pay the clothes by yourself in the fitting room. Revolution, technology and innovation: You have a tablet In your own fitting room and for example, you can change the size of any garment that you want to try.
We can’t forget RFID system (The RFID deviceprovides a unique identifier for that object. And, just as a bar code or magnetic strip must be scanned to get the information, the RFID device must be scanned to retrieve the identifying information). Easy, faster and stress-free.
Zara now boasts eight stores in Manhattan, where the brand opened its first store outside of the Iberian Peninsula in 1989, after setting up shop in the city’s most popular shopping destinations including Fifth Avenue, Lexington Avenue, and 34th Street. Zara also opened a new store at 222 Broadway in late 2015, taking over a new space in the heart of the city’s Financial District.
From San Diego and Seattle to Houston, Honolulu and New York, Zara has opened the doors of major new stores across the US in 2015. After unveiling the new Zara SoHo, Inditex Group now has 75 stores in the country (71 Zara and 4 Massimo Dutti stores). If we talk about figures, we have to talk about the increase in 2015, when the sales grow up 16%, 14.744 millions of euros.
It was also an increase recruitment, when Zara generated more than 13,000 jobs around the world (more than 3,000 in Spain). Nowadays, Zara has almost 147,000 workers in 88 markets. We talked about this success since 1975, when Amancio Ortega opens his first Zara store in Juan Flórez street, in La Coruña. Under the slogan «Not, does not exist. Eveything is possible», Ortega started a dream that has became true. An empire full of effort, work, delusion and humility that is expanding in «The Big Apple» and remember us the greatness of Spain.