MILAN — Rinascente has serious beauty ambitions.
On Monday, the Italian department store said it had signed a long-term lease for a landmark location next door to its main unit overlooking the Duomo Cathedral and plans to turn it into a new beauty destination for the Milanese crowd and tourists alike.
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Known to locals as “The Odeon,” this historic venue formerly housed movie theaters and was a cultural and gathering spot for citizens here for decades before closing last year.
Pierluigi Cocchini, CEO of Rinascente, said that the company will renovate the venue and open the “Rinascente Odeon Beauty Salon” by May 2027.
The plan is to bring all the established beauty brands currently displayed on the ground floor of the Duomo unit, as well as the independent labels displayed in the Beauty Bar area of the Annex, under one roof. In doing so, the space allocated for the beauty category is planned to be expanded three times to cover 32,291 square meters of space spread over three floors of the new centre.
In addition to housing more than 300 brands in makeup, skincare and fragrance, the new space will also feature brand-curated makeup stations and advanced beauty treatments on the first and second floors.
As reported, the store tested consumers’ interest in this experiential side by launching its Beauty Fair initiative earlier this year and repeating it in its sophomore year last month. The format involved both established and independent brands staging pop-ups to present their latest collections, limited edition or customizable products, as well as offering customers complimentary treatments, workshops and masterclasses.
“We were already strong in beauty, but now we have the chance to be even stronger,” Cocchini said. “This is a very important category, a traffic generator and one that has been showing positive momentum for several years. “Brands that already have a beauty industry are further strengthening it, and those that do not are initiating it,” the executive continued, underlining the important role of cosmetics in offering consumers a more accessible and first entry into luxury brands.
“There are also indie record labels where new names emerge every day. We had these done in our Beauty Bar, but we didn’t have beauty treatments for example, so this would be an interesting part to explore too. “This is a broader, 360-degree approach to the category that goes beyond just selling products.”
The new area is expected to attract 3 million visitors in its first year, according to Cocchini. “Our beauty sales in Milan currently reach 50 million euros. We expect these to increase to €80 million in the first year since the opening of the new centre; “When this area is fully established, we aim to reach a total of between 130 million euros and 140 million euros,” said Cocchini.
With the new destination, the retailer targets Generation Y and Generation Z customers; because this generation is expected to represent 25 percent of the customer base in five years. In the last 12 months, 36 percent of Rinascente Duomo customers purchased beauty products; One in three customers was Generation Z.
The retailer commissioned architect Marco Costanzi and his eponymous studio to renovate the new location while paying homage to the original design dating back to the 1930s. “We went through a similar remodeling process when we opened Roma Tritone [unit] “In 2017, after more than 10 years of work,” Cocchini recalls. “We will continue the same approach in this historic building; we will respect the place that hosts us and try to develop it by combining its historical features with modernity.”
Costanzi, who redesigned Rinascente’s unit in Florence and recently worked on Dior’s new headquarters in Paris, has kept details of the new interior concept under wraps, but it appears the space will tie in with its previous use, not just in terms of style. Four movie theaters will continue to operate in the basement. To further enhance the experiential payoff, 7,534 square meters of space will be dedicated to the dining area, with a bar on the ground floor and a larger destination on the second floor.
Cocchini underlined that the new project will also create a domino effect in the main building unit of Rinascente. The space, previously focused on beauty brands, will be revamped and redesigned to expand the accessories, watches and jewelery categories, doubling the existing retail space dedicated to these segments to 21,527 square metres.
Cocchini said, “Our total investment will be approximately 40 million euros, 30 million euros of which will be divided into the Odeon plan and 10 million euros into the renovation of the ground floor in the project we call ‘Grand Floor’.” Euro will be invested by beauty brands that will enter the new center to set up their stands.
In addition, the Grand Floor project, which is expected to be opened in 2027, will allow the retailer to increase sales from the above-mentioned categories from the current 200 million Euros to 370 million Euros in the first year of the new order.
“The accessories category is a huge point of strength for us, but it is also a weakness when we take into account the square footage available for each brand,” Cocchini said. “The problem with Italian department stores is that our cities date from the Middle Ages or date back to the Renaissance, so the spaces cannot be compared with those in Paris or London,” the manager continued, comparing the Rinascente Duomo’s total surface of 226,042 square metres. with those three or four times larger in other European capitals.
The store’s jewel, Rinascente’s flagship in Milan, attracts an average of 8.3 million visitors a year and accounts for nearly half of the company’s total sales. The retailer, which is controlled by Thailand Central Group and has a network of nine locations in Italy, reached 1 billion euros in sales last year, reporting a 16 percent increase from 2022 and a 14 percent growth from its record year in 2019. Sales increased. All product categories saw increases of 28 percent and 30 percent, respectively, with a particular focus on luxury accessories and beauty.
“Despite two wars and the crisis in the luxury world, I think we will break last year’s record. The next three months will be very important, currently our sales are up around 1 or 2 percent [versus last year]let’s see what happens,” Cocchini said.
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