Our creative director visited Rome in November and it couldn’t be better timing as it coincided with the launch of the new flagship of Italian luxury department store Rinascente.
The new flagship store was featured in the issue of design and interiors magazine Living that he bought at the newsagent on arrival at Roma Termini and in the Roman shopping guide at the airport. With that much publicity, it’s worth checking out and it didn’t disappoint.
Buzzy, exciting and with a rooftop terrace plus a view to die for, it’s nailed its positioning. It even has its own ancient Roman archaeological relic in the basement, talk about putting on a show and understanding what it means to be a retail destination.
Once you step in, your attention goes straight to the Prada corner with its quirky visual merchandising incorporating the oversized robot tricks/key rings. The Prada merchandise there is the latest that we’ve seen, compared to other Prada boutiques so that already is a huge draw and selling point.
Spread over 8 floors in a heritage protected building, it houses the usual suspects of luxury brands, but a stellar execution of a food hall on the top floor with a range of offerings and cool food outlets, eateries to tease and intrigue all appetites.
We especially enjoyed seeing some fashion brands with no brick and mortar presence in Australia such as Massimo Giorgetti’s MSGM and Gucci Beauty, which we picked up as gifts.
The home wares and design hall was also particularly well executed, but that’s expected as it was modelled after the one in Milan which was a clear success.
Our creative director picked up some gifts from the Gucci Beauty counter (which hasn’t even been launched in Australia). The packaging is simply divine, like most things housed under its stunning rooftop terrace, it’s luxury retail executed to the best, another example of retail done right, retail as a destination. We’ll be back for more in 2018!
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