Benetton reopens Istanbul flagship with new concept

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 15, 2019

United Colours of Benetton has reopened its Istanbul flagship store on Bagdat Street as part of its new concept project. The “futuristic” project has seen the store being updated in line with the new Light Colors concept, conceived by the group’s retail design team with the collaboration of architect Tobia Scarpa.

The country is a key market for the Italian brand and currently hosts 46 of its mono brand stores. The Istanbul store originally opened in 2009 with a design by architect Piero Lissoni. 

Under the revamp, its sales area currently occupies three floors of the building with the other four floors to be used as Benetton showrooms and the firm’s Turkish HQ.

The new Scarpa design includes an original lighting concept that’s claimed to “create a quality of light which brings out the ‘happiness’ of the colours of the displayed products,” the architect said. “The originality of this project comes from the use of diffused, direct and indirect light sources, and the diffusion of linear light used in an innovative way in retail.”

The store also features a “cosy atmosphere, natural textures [and] Italian style” with a flexible furnishing system, that means the product is always in the spotlight. 

The new look has also been developed to work for shops of different sizes, “with light and elegant display structures that are easy to transport and simple to install.” It has been created with an international rollout in mind.

The company said that despite it currently being a “a complex time for Turkey”, the revamped store underlines the brand’s strength in the market and is intended to be "a communication hub that will serve as a sounding board for the brand’s messages and values” in the country.

The importance of the store cam be seen from the fact that the company will be extending its #Benettonrace concept to it. The concept sees The shop windows transformed into a photographic set where the models will be people passing by the store, with a focus on openness to difference. 

Last autumn in Paris, Oliviero Toscani, Settimio Benedusi and a team of Fabrica photographers built two photographic sets in two windows of the Place de l’Opéra store and invited passersby to come in and have their picture taken. The photos taken during the two days formed a visual map of the population of Paris. The company is now extending the concept to London and Milan as well as Istanbul.