Brunello Cucinelli Opens Store in Paris
The boutique is located on Avenue Montaigne.
by Luisa ZarganiCUCINELLI IN PARIS: Brunello Cucinelli sees the opening of a new store in Paris’ Avenue Montaigne as a sign of hope and rebirth.
“This boutique follows our important development plan for a sound, balanced, and sustainable growth of the company,” said the entrepreneur and founder of the namesake company.
The store is just a short distance from the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and opposite the Plaza Athénée hotel and features furnishings specifically conceived and created for this location.
Meant to convey a familiar and relaxed atmosphere, the unit blends elements of both the Italian and French cultures. Case in point, a central orangery beneath the large skylights providing natural light, which reinterprets the style of a café or a bistrot.
There are also several restored pieces bought from French antique markets, such as the Art Nouveaux oak wood structure framing a library, which was recovered from the portal of an old apothecary shop.
In June, the company opened a new store in London only a few days after the end of the local lockdown, relocating into a two-story space on New Bond Street. Previously, Cucinelli had a smaller banner on Burlington Gardens.
At the end of June, the company had 107 boutiques, one more than the end of December, due to the opening at the beginning of the year of the new unit in New York, in the Meatpacking District.
Last month, commenting on the performance of his company in the first half, Cucinelli said it was a priority to maintain the strategic investment plan to support the brand. In the first six months of the year, investments amounted to 22.4 million euros compared with 18.8 million euros invested in the same period last year.
In particular, commercial investments in its network of stores and showrooms amounted to 16 million euros, and other investments include those related to production, logistics and IT and digital services.
Cucinelli is also doubling its stores in Madison Avenue in New York, in St. Petersburg, in Tokyo and in Las Vegas.
While confident in his company’s growth in the third and fourth quarters, and forecasting a 10 percent decrease in sales for the full year, Cucinelli last month reported that in the first-half sales were down 29.6 percent to 205.1 million euros, impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in the brand’s main markets.