Benetton to close its historic store in Malaga city centre

Benetton's iconic green signs will soon disappear from Malaga city centre. The Italian fashion house is to close its store in the Plaza de la Constitución this June after more than 30 years, having opened in the 1990s.

The shop's management, located at number 15 of the square, at top of Calle Larios, has already put up liquidation signs prior to the closure and is promoting discounts of up to 50 per cent. The shop will remain open until 25 June.

At the moment it is not known whether the staff will be relocated to other shops. In the city, the company currently has another store inside the Larios Centre shopping centre, although it only sells children's fashion.

Benetton was founded in the Italian town of Ponzano Veneto in 1965 and has eight sales outlets in the province of Malaga, some of them located in El Corte Inglés stores. Despite the recovery of sales after the pandemic, the company is immersed in a strategic plan that includes the reduction of different fixed costs. Since the beginning of the year it has closed or is about to close stores in cities such as Zamora and León.

As this newspaper has been able to confirm, the closure is due to the termination of the contract and because the building has been rented to a new tenant. Another multinational company is due to move into the premises. The perfume and cosmetics firm Sephora is expected to open in the coming months.

Sephora is a chain founded in France in 1969 and is specialised in luxury products. In Malaga it only has two outlets, inside El Corte Inglés centres, so this will be the first physical shop to be opened by the company.

The cosmetics giant is immersed in a major expansion process and just a month ago opened a new space in Marbella under the name of Sephora Playa Marbella. Located in Puerto Banús, it is a 145-square-metre shop with a different concept from the rest of the shops. In fact, the company only has three other stores in the world with that design: in Ibiza, in Mykonos (Greece) and in St Tropez (France).

The opening of Sephora in the heart of Malaga will further increase the luxury offer in the city centre's main shopping area. In the same square Carolina Herrera is expected to open next year (it will open in the 550-square-metre premises previously occupied by El Corte Inglés) and the Quera jewellery store is due to open in Calle Larios.