Inditex remains committed to the US: Inside Zara’s new New York ‘flagship’

Madrid – Addressing any doubts about its commitment to the US market, Zara, Inditex’s main fashion chain, dressed up in New York last Thursday to welcome customers to its renovated Hudson Yards store. The Spanish fashion firm has begun to roll out its latest store concept from this impressive ‘flagship store’.

As one of the most strategic of the 30 store project, including new openings and renovations, that Inditex announced in 2023 that it would undertake in the US between that year and 2025. As part of its continued commitment to the US market, Zara has finally, once again, opened its doors in the exclusive Hudson Yards megacomplex in New York. It is one of the largest real estate developments in the history of the US, combining offices, apartments, cultural spaces, green areas and an equally exclusive shopping centre, which houses retailers such as Bulgari, Cartier, Dior, Fendi, H&M, Louis Vuitton, Mango, Tiffany’s and Zara.

Zara, Inditex’s main brand by business volume and commercial network, arrived in Hudson Yards at the same time as it opened, opening the doors of a ‘flagship store’ of more than 1,672 square metres, spread over two floors, in 2019. The store has undergone a thorough renovation and expansion process, giving way to a completely transformed ‘flagship store’, which has grown to more than 2,000 square metres of retail space, spread over a single floor.

The new store, reserved for both Zara’s womenswear and menswear collections, was designed internally by Zara’s architecture department. It now features the chain’s latest store concept, first presented with the opening of its ‘flagship store’ in Madrid in April 2022. This store model has served as a basis for the development of more unique projects, such as the stores in Lisbon and Nanjing, China, or more “standardised” ones, such as those in Valencia, the Liverpool One shopping centre in Liverpool or the Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier shopping centre in Hamburg. However, they all present the same spatial characteristics, omnichannel shopping experiences and services, which customers can now enjoy at the renovated Zara store in Hudson Yards.

Following Inditex’s guidelines, which involve approaching each project as unique, despite potential common characteristics, “the interior design concept” for this renovated store, designed specifically for the New York location, was “designed to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, guiding customers through unique spaces, each with a distinct personality”, Zara said in a statement. Customers can enjoy a seamless and omnichannel shopping experience, following the nature that Inditex has fully embraced as a fashion group, and in which the perfect integration between physical and online sales channels is increasingly being promoted.

New Atmospheres, in dialogue with what has been (and is) New York’s fashion scene

With interiors marked by particularly clean and minimalist lines, in keeping with Zara’s new store concept that the chain has been implementing since 2022, the ‘flagship store’ is also full of details, such as the stone-effect, ceramic, steel and wood tiles, which create a differentiation of spatial environments, also paying tribute to the vibrant and diverse New York fashion scene, of yesterday and today. It is especially interesting to see how, from its separate entrances with direct access to the menswear and womenswear areas, the new ‘flagship store’ presents a series of atmospheres that speak to the public, from the cold minimalism that Calvin Klein made its mark with during the 1980s and 90s; to the masculine luxury, in wood, of the ‘preppy’ style that has always characterised Ralph Lauren. Or the ‘quiet luxury’ and sincere love for craftsmanship, and its details, that Gabriela Hearst has always professed, both during her time as creative director of Chloé and in her role as creative director of her own eponymous fashion house. All of this can be seen from inside this renovated store, perfectly linked together and from its own visual language, and adjusted to that other maxim that prevails at Inditex with respect to its new store formats, which in its case involves ensuring that the focus, at all times, remains on its fashion offering.

Bearing in mind these spatial considerations and in line with the new store concept presented by the chain in 2022, the interior of this renovated Zara ‘flagship store’ in New York is articulated not only in different “general” environments, but also around the already characteristic “boutique spaces” that are so characteristic of the chain’s new main stores around the world. In this new store, these areas evolve to take on a renewed identity, much closer to what would be a corner of a specialised brand within a shopping arcade. This is especially evident in the areas of this ‘flagship store’ that have been exclusively reserved for the sale of Zara’s denim range, or for bags, footwear and accessories.

Zara maintains that these “carefully designed spaces, with distinctive architectural elements and premium furniture, enhance Zara’s collections and foster a deeper connection between the brand and its customers”. These particularities are especially evident in the denim section, with an offer that now has “a renewed distribution”, with “custom-made furniture” from which “the variety of jean cuts are displayed, improving the shopping experience”.

Self-checkout tills and automated sile for online orders

Supporting the more traditional physical shopping experience, which can still be enjoyed perfectly from inside the store, the renovated Zara ‘flagship store’ in New York also has the chain’s latest services for an omnichannel shopping experience. Highlighting the firm’s objective and commitment to ensuring “a seamless shopping experience” between both universes of the current retail industry, from the implementation of Zara’s store mode, which allows customers to check the store’s inventory in real time, to the launch of the online ordering service, for collection in store within two hours.

Beyond these two omnichannel experiences/services, the store has an automated silo for collecting online orders with a capacity of up to 500 packages; self-checkout areas to speed up the purchasing processes and as a reinforcement to the traditional assisted tills; and two equally automated points from which to process the return of online orders. The list is completed with these latest “cutting-edge solutions” for the in-store experience with a cardboard collection point, from which to facilitate the recycling of online order boxes; and another collection point, in this case for used clothing, from which to extend the useful life and revalue the garments deposited in it, as part of a circular model. These are two examples of how Zara and Inditex are also trying to involve their customers in their sustainability strategies. The new store will respond to these commitments from its very operations, thanks to the incorporation of systems and technologies that allow for a much more optimised use of energy and natural resources, including Inditex’s internal Inergy platform, from which the electricity consumption of its commercial network is monitored and centrally controlled, in order to optimise it and make it more efficient.

“With the reopening of Hudson Yards, Zara is reinforcing its commitment to innovation in retail, offering customers a new destination where fashion and architecture converge and create an elevated shopping experience,” Inditex’s main fashion chain added. An objective to which they also add the purpose of “improving maintenance and perfecting strategies to reduce overall energy consumption”, thus responding to and advancing in their objective of becoming a “zero emissions” company by 2040.