Business The Capitoline wolf returns to the sky of luxury in Madrid
Business Dimas Gimeno: this is how life is sought after being expelled from El Corte Inglés
After much anticipation, today Wow opens its doors to the public, the new ambitious project by Dimas Gimeno (46), former president of El Corte Inglés, on Gran Vía 18 in Madrid.
For latecomers, Wow is a
hybrid
marketplace
, that is, a kind of warehouse with corners of high-segment brands that only sell
online
and that find here a physical space where they can make themselves known.
Although it is not only that, it is also a place to buy (in situ or
online,
or vice versa) established luxury brands with outlets open elsewhere.
All in all, Wow, really wow, it's a super modern store that offers the
phygital
(physical and digital) shopping experience.
A place reminiscent of the famous Colette in Paris, the
coolest
store in
history that closed in 2017, but updated to our days in the midst of the RRSS boom.
"I have been involved in the entire process because
the project has started from scratch
and my leadership has consisted of surrounding myself with the best team," says
Dimas Gimeno
to LOC from the brilliant floor Wow, whose presentation to the press could not have been more groundbreaking: Very rare choreography of some green-chroma beings (the color of the brand),
chuntachunta
in the background and an interior design halfway between a
Stranger Things
set and an Arco stand.
Zero to do with El Corte Inglés that he directed.
"The key to Wow is that
it cannot be compared with anything.
If something like this is born, it is because everything has already been invented. We want to recover the experience of going to the shops, but offer something different.
We do not manufacture products, we attract the best brands in the world
. Brands of young and digital audiences that we bring to the physical world. And conventional brands that want to be with them. We have understood well what the brands want. We want to excite them," says the executive, who
obtained more than 10 million for the project
apart to contribute a large part of his own fortune, estimated at 175 million, in the capital.
Far from being a modernity for tourists, Gimeno claims his own origins through Wow.
"We want this to be a personalized experience.
Knowing who you are because you want us to know and customizing you, that is, anticipating your needs. The idea is to recover the fundamental precepts of lifelong commerce:
serve the customer very well,
get to know him well to anticipate what he will buy next, offer him an exclusive and trendy product and get him to come back".
Wow consists of several floors
: one dedicated to technology, another dedicated to beauty and cosmetics, three dedicated to women's, men's, urban and sports fashion and another three dedicated to home and restaurants.
A whole offer illuminated with natural and neon light.
Corner
management
goes further.
These will rotate.
Rafael Medina, son of Naty Abascal, is in charge of selecting the brands that are part of the Wow universe.
"We want to make retail
, the point of sale,
fun . Now
every store you go to is more of the same, this is different.
For example,
you can start shopping at home from your mobile and finish it here
, at the checkout, or at the smart mirror where you have the possibility to scan the garment, pay for it and leave. Wow it is a
version 2.0 of what we have seen so far
, "says Medina, with extensive experience in the world of fashion as a former partner of Scalpers and former director of Massimo Dutti.
"I work transversally with all the teams. But I work as the
Head of Curation
(director of curation). I'll tell you that
in two weeks Chanel will be there,
which has asked us for a specific implementation. Another day another brand will come with many followers on Instagram but that he does not sell in a physical store and for the first time he is going to do it here (...)", he explains.
"We are convinced that the physical [go
shopping
to use] is going to return."
So be it.
Of course, walking around to see every corner of this building that was once occupied by the well-known
Hotel Roma
is a pleasant sensation.
Wow, she has even recovered her famous little wolf
from the facade nursing Rómulo and Remo... Past and future.
Like Wow himself.
He has even made her a Japanese character.
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