The Spanish fashion firm Inditex (ITX.MC) announced Friday that it will franchise a Zara store in Caracas in the first half of 2024 after a three-year absence.
After renegotiating its franchise deal with Phoenix World Trade, Inditex, which owns Bershka, Pull & Bear, and other brands, closed all of its South American stores in 2021.
Inditex confirmed Reuters’ report that Grupo Futura, Zara’s Venezuelan licensee, will reopen a Zara store in Caracas’ Sambil retail centre.
“The opening is expected to take place before the end of the first half of 2024,” a source said.
Grupo Futura helped Inditex manage intricate local rules under former President Hugo Chavez and will now help the fashion retailer reconnect with a market many global corporations see as a growing possibility given the possible lifting of U.S. economic sanctions.
Since 2007, Camilo Ibrahim’s Inditex partner company had operated Inditex stores in the country’s major cities as well as Timberland stores.
Inditex’s local partner helped it navigate currency controls under Chavez, who died in 2013. Nicolás Maduro maintained those rules for years.
After U.S. sanctions in 2019, the Maduro government loosened private sector restrictions and allowed greater foreign currency transactions, boosting commerce and manufacturing.
