The Armani Group today announced the opening of 18 new stores in major cities around the world this coming Autumn season, the highlight of which will be the opening of the multi-brand Armani location at Chater Road, Hong Kong in October. This will bring the total number of new stores opened in the year 2002 to 26 and show the Group's commitment to continuing its strategic investment programme, with a sustained emphasis on the further enhancement of the retail network and on strengthening and differentiating the individual product lifestyles of the house.
New Giorgio Armani boutiques will be opened in Zurich (350 square metres on the Bahnhofstrasse); Athens (600 square metres over 5 floors on Koumbari Street); Vienna (390 square metres on Kohlmarkt Street);
New Armani Collezioni stores will be opened in Schenzen China (350 square metres in the Shenzen Tian An International Shopping Arcade; Kiev with AC Milan Football Player Andrij Schevchenko.
New Emporio Armani stores will opened in Rio de Janeiro (600 square metres in Sao Conrado Fashion Mall); Riyadh (two separate locations of 230 square metres for men and women in Olaya Street);
New Armani Jeans stores will be opened in Verona (180 square metres); Dubai (150 square metres in the Town Centre Mercato); Ebisu, Tokyo.
New Armani Casa stores will be opened in Moscow (345 square metres next door to existing Giorgio Armani boutique on Tretyakovski Proez); Zurich (250 square metres on Seestrasse); Riyadh (200 square metres on Olaya Street); Milan (1000 square metres in Via Durini).
A new Armani Junior store will be opened in Dubai (80 square metres in the Town Centre Mercato); Bolzano, Italy.
For the first time outside Milan, the Armani company will open a dedicated Emporio Armani Accessories store in Madrid in October next door to the existing Emporio Armani store.
The opening of the new Armani/Chater House development in Hong Kong, will be the biggest Armani retail location in the world after Milan's Armani/Via Manzoni. For the first time anywhere, the designer's two main runway fashion collections � Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani � will be together in one single building along with the Armani Jeans collection, the recently launched Armani Casa and Cosmetics collection, a bookshop, a flower shop and an Emporio Armani Caffè. The whole store covers 2,000 square metres of retail space (see enclosed press release for futher information).
The Armani Group is one of the leading fashion and design groups in the world today. It designs, manufactures, distributes and retails fashion products, including apparel, accessories, eyewear, watches, home products, fragrances and cosmetics under a range of lifestyle brand names: Giorgio Armani, Armani Collezioni, Mani, Emporio Armani, Armani Jeans, A/X Armani Exchange, Armani Junior and Armani Casa. The Group's exclusive retail network currently comprises 53 Giorgio Armani boutiques, 1 Giorgio Armani accessori boutique, 10 Armani Collezioni stores, 114 Emporio Armani stores, 63 A/X Armani Exchange stores, 8 Armani Jeans stores, 3 Armani Junior stores and 6 Armani Casa stores in 34 countries.