Zara store opening 10 November, Sandton Cityyyyy

Zara Opening in Johannesburg 10 November

It was announced late last week that Zara will be opening in Sandton City on November 10. According to Maurice Mdlolo, Chief Operating Officer of Liberty Properties, the people behind the Sandton City expansion, Zara is taking out a flagship store in the mall’s new extension.

“Liberty Properties are excited to announce that the Spanish fashion brand Zara have signed up to take a 2,100sqm store in the new extension,” he said. “This store will bring their full range of ladies, mens and children’s range to South  Africa.”
Other stores opening in the extension include a huge Trenery and a second Superga flagship. On Friday Samantha Ellis-Payne published an extensive investigation into the influx of international retailers on South African soil. She quoted Syd Vianello, an analyst at Nedbank Capital, who told her that the “entry of global clothing retailers, such as Zara, would put pressure on local clothing retailers’ margins, but foreign retailers were unlikely to take a huge slice of the market from local brands such as Truworths and Edgars, which between them already had hundreds of stores.”
Vianello went on to say one store would quickly become 10 stores “and with its focus on the middle market and its fast fashion – meaning it changed styles every month – it could present a challenge to established local retailers that focussed on the middle market and to some extent Mr Price, which targeted the lower end.”
According to Ellis-Payne’s article, Vianello said Zara would enter South Africa with corporate stores rather than franchise outlets, meaning the stores would have the financial backer of the holding company, Inditex, rather than a local licensee. Apparently, this means the group would be paying import duties on merchandise at cost. This is in line with local retailers, meaning that Zara would be comparatively priced with local retailers.