LONDON – Zara is using its 50th anniversary year to expand its horizons, and has unveiled a new luxury store concept designed by one of its favorite collaborators, the Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen.
On Thursday, Zara unveiled a flagship in Barcelona that’s designed like a high-end home or boutique hotel and invites visitors to “pause, observe and have a memorable experience.”
Commerce is only part of the picture.
Zara described the new store, which spans nearly 11,000 square feet, as “not simply a commercial space, but an immersive environment built around a sensory atmosphere.” It is inspired by the “intimacy of domestic life,” and wants to “awaken curiosity and encourage return visits, offering something new” at every turn.
Zara’s new flagship in Barcelona has been created to look like a high-end home, where each room has a different mood.
Van Duysen, who designed everything, including the furniture, described the new flagship as “a destination designed for presence, a place where exploration becomes discovery, and where each visit reveals something previously unnoticed: an unexpected texture, a hidden vignette, a corner overlooked.”
He added: “It’s a retail space shaped by architectural thought, emotional sensibility, and aesthetic restraint,” with the aim of turning “the act of shopping into a memorable experience.”
The store is located in the center of town, on the Avenida Diagonal, and the wide windows of the façade offer passersby a look inside. It unfolds across multiple levels, with rooms of all different sizes and moods.
The central lounge is arranged like a living room, with a bookshelf that runs along the wall, framing a large, freestanding sofa. Around it, there are open wood-and-metal shelves, vitrines and tactile surfaces. The furniture is from the Zara Home Plus by Vincent Van Duysen collection.
A look inside the new Zara flagship in Barcelona, designed by Vincent Van Duysen
There is an exposed wooden beam ceiling, while materials include natural wood, brushed metal, soft stone and matte finishes. The palette is neutral so as not to overshadow the clothing, according to Zara.
Clothes are hung on minimalist metal rails, while key pieces are displayed in transparent glass vitrines, giving the space a museum-y feel.
Fitting rooms have been conceived as “an expansive walk-in wardrobe” with soft lighting and natural materials, all meant to conjure a sense of calm.
Asked about the biggest challenges of creating the space, Van Duysen said that “the biggest challenge and reward coincide. It is hard to redevelop a new shopping concept and experience for such a well-established brand. At the same time, I think that we have succeeded to create a new shopping experience with Zara Diagonal, and that is perhaps our biggest reward.”
Van Duysen has been working with Zara since 2022, when his first home collection launched. He said he likes working with the retailer because of its global reach and its efforts to “reposition and elevate” itself within the fashion and furniture world.
The façade of Zara’s new Barcelona flagship store.
“We also feel the journey is not over; there are still things to be said, and put out there,” he said. Van Duysen has designed four collections for Zara Home. Customers can also purchase the furniture that he designed for the Barcelona store.
Over the past 12 months, Zara has ramped up its experimentation with new shop concepts.
As reported, Zara refurbished its first store on Calle Juan Flórez in A Coruña, Spain earlier this year to mark the anniversary.
The store underwent a makeover courtesy of Zara’s in-house architects and design team, who brought the city’s elegant architectural features in, and transformed it into an experiential space.
A Coruña’s distinctive “galerías,” or glassed-in balconies, on the city’s seafront buildings are the focus of the design. The white balconies, with their lattice designs, were meant to let in the sun and keep out the rain. Most of them were constructed in the late 19th century.
Vincent Van Duysen
Darren Gerrish/Courtesy of Zara
Late last year, Zara introduced the Zacaffè at its Madrid menswear store.
The café, which has a separate entrance, pays tribute to Neomudéjar, a 19th-century Moorish Revival architecture style. The warm colors and brickwork reference a variety of Neomudéjar buildings, including Madrid’s Casa Árabe cultural center.
Curving motifs appear on everything from the tiles to the branded tableware, and nod to the wooden latticing of Arab architecture.
Zara worked with Ramdane Touhami, owner of design agency Art Recherche Industrie, to create the café concept, which has been rolling out to select Zara stores worldwide.
