The key points
- Rinascente’s business – which has 9 stores in 8 Italian cities – will return close to 2019 levels
- The Rome Tritone shop recovered faster than the others
- Almost 40 million euros are made with online or on-demand shopping services launched with the pandemic
«The business is back to being very close to 2019 levels a year earlier than ours recovery plan. The shop in Rome Tritone, then, will close the year beyond the pre-Covid levels ». Pierluigi Cocchini is CEO of Rinascente, the Italian department store par excellence. The brand, which has been in the Central Group portfolio for over 10 years, had a turnover of 882.9 million euros in 2019 and has undergone an important transformation since 2020. In part forced by the pandemic, with the closures imposed, and by the absence of some nationalities of tourists; partly desired and studied in detail. A change that has led a more than one-hundred-year-old brand – the name was suggested by Gabriele D’Annunzio, in 1917 – to become more and more omnichannel, to dialogue with a young audience and to become an increasingly integral part of city life, with events that are not strictly related to business but marked by the grandeur of Rinascente.
Last night you celebrated Diabolik’s 60th anniversary with a high-impact event that simulated a theft in the department store. Why this foray into the world of comics?
We worked on it for two years. We thought that this character – a controversial anti-hero but with his own ethics, created by two Milanese women – could be in the ropes of Rinascente which wants to offer itself more and more as a commercial point of reference, but also as a place where interesting things happen, which create allure for the city. Even if they are apparently not related to our business.
Will it therefore be the first of a series of events that will involve Rinascente and the world of entertainment?
I would say yes. It is an area that interests us and I think our visitors expect this type of entertainment. Diabolik for 60 years is the event of the decade for us and I do not exclude it may be taken to other locations, perhaps in Rome.