Zara Steps into Luxury: Unveiling Exclusive Designs at New Barcelona Flagship

Zara aspires to compete with the big names in fashion and design. Inditex has just launched an unprecedented concept in the heart of Barcelona’s Avinguda Diagonal, in the upper area of the city, with a flagship store whose appearance is more like a museum than an ordinary store. For its conception, the brand has pursued its strategy of elevating its image and reinforcing its aspirational universe, signing a high-flying collaboration with the prestigious Belgian architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen. With a commitment to the careful and intellectual design that normally only the big names in luxury allow themselves, the new store is an emblem of the Zara of Marta Ortega’s era: visual, exquisite and refined to continue democratizing fashion, but legitimizing its design discourse and seducing, also, premium customers.

In what is an exceptional situation before the press given the scarcity of public appearances by brand spokespeople, the director of Zara in Spain, Roberto Martín, took the floor to describe Barcelona as a “very important city for Zara”, and to highlight the territory as a “relevant capital”, both in terms of sales and corporate importance.The city is home to the headquarters of five of Inditex’s products: Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Bershka and Zara itself.

The new store is located at number 584 Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona. On its first day of operation it has featured a presentation by the architect behind the project, Vincent Van Duysen, whose relationship with Inditex began in 2022 with a collaboration with Zara Home. Since then, four more collections have been launched with him. This is, however, the first time the architect has signed a project entirely conceived by him.

For the first time in Barcelona, Zara will combine its men’s and women’s collections in the same space with its luxury decoration proposal. So far, this type of fusion had only been installed in its ‘Apartment’ concept, in Madrid, A Coruña and Paris. The new store, however, defends a particular model of Zara store that will not be replicable in its other stores and that does not follow the line of any of the existing ones.

Zara will combine its men’s and women’s collections in the same space with its luxury decoration proposal

The space, which has a surface area of close to 107,000 square feet, consists of two floors. The entrance to the store emulates a foyer, so that the user “is not crowded” and does not meet directly with the products. A floor with irregular edges and carpets, sofas, warm lights, showcases and shelves similar to those of a bookstore complete the design proposal. The color palette features natural wood, brushed metal, soft stone and matte finishes.

Van Duysen wanted this space to appeal to the “residential sense”. The aim is for each visitor to “discover the different environments”, with rooms “that could resemble those in a home”. For the architect, such a space can make users visit it more often, “and discover its universe”, taking into account that Zara’s offer is constantly changing.

The fitting room area is also unique. Just before entering, a screen indicates which items are available. With sliding wooden doors, each cubicle turns on its lights when the user enters. Upon exiting, the user is led to the payment area. On this same floor there is also an online and physical returns area, as well as a product collection box.

Barcelona consolidates with this signature opening as an essential enclave in which Zara intends to deploy the repositioning strategy it has defended in recent years. The Catalan capital is gaining strength, beyond Arteixo, to represent Inditex’s flagship proposal in one of its premium streets, surrounded by stores including Mango He and Mango Home, Bimba y Lola, Massimo Dutti and Oysho, among others. The inauguration of the space is a strategic move for the group and, on its first day of activity, it was attended by the president Marta Ortega and her husband Carlos Torretta.

According to the latest results published, Inditex ended the first six months of 2025 with an increase in sales of 1.6%, and increased its net income by 0.8%. This performance is in line with that of the first quarter of the year, when it posted its lowest quarterly growth since the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Zara’s sales, in which Inditex also includes Zara Home and Lefties, reached €13.15 billion, 0.89% more than the previous year, being the lowest growth of the whole group. At the end of the first half of the year, the combined turnover of the three concepts accounted for 71.63% of the total, half a percentage point less than a year ago. With this new store, Zara now has eleven stores in Barcelona.