The birth of flagship stores

Galleria Cavour, right in the center of Bologna, is still the indoor section with the highest concentration of luxury stores in all of Europe.

Historically speaking, when was the concept of a mono-brand store born in the clothing sector? Chronology urges us to look for the fortune of these boutiques around the Sixties: they are the evolution of what was previously the workshop of the ancient city tailor, and before that of the court. In the midst of post-war reconstruction, the economic boom and the drive for consumption imposed a change even in retail sales, which were transformed into a true and proper shopping experience that was both attentive and personalized.

The well-being, the full employment and the demographic return to the big cities lead to the birth of new entrepreneurial realities and therefore to the flourishing of a new high-spending class that, in exclusivity, looks for the hedonistic pleasures of life. It is in this context that independent fashion boutiques become an increasingly widespread phenomenon, especially in cities such as Milan, Paris and London.

Unlike department stores, these stores succeeded in giving voice to an expression of individual affirmation: shopping became a pampering, the sellers knew the needs of the clientele and the purchase in the most refined stores became a real status symbol for both ladies and businessmen.

Flagship stores changed the shopping experience to such an extent that it became a social activity, of leisure and entertainment as it is still considered today. It was London, with Mary Quant’s boutique, that started this trend, transforming districts such as Carnaby Street and Mayfair into true fashion districts. Even France and Italy are not standing idly by. If the first ready-to-wear boutique of Yves Saint Laurent conquered the Rive Gauche in 1966, in Rome, in 1955, the first store of the Fontana sisters opened, one of the pioneers of sartorial Made in Italy in the world. In Milan, where there were already important family stores such as the boutique “Fratelli Prada”, the economic boom pushes these realities towards a new form of sales and approach.

This is how Miuccia Prada relaunched the company and the boutique that is still one of the symbols of luxury in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. In Bologna, the realities of luxury chose us: Cartier was the first single-brand store to open in our spaces. It was 1976 and, since then, it is here that the most prestigious brands have decided to find a home, offering visitors and customers an experience of exclusivity and respect to be lived.