10 Corso Como: “Our goal is to open up to six more stores”

Despite the difficult market environment, ‘10 Corso Como’ is in a positive mood and the year is even exceeding expectations. The company has achieved double-digit growth since the beginning of September. Further locations in Europe and Asia are now planned to establish the concept store, which is one of the first of its kind, as an international brand.

To this end, 10 Corso Como is working with renowned fashion retailers such as Printemps and is relying on the expertise of Gianluca Borghi. The CEO has been running the company since May 2023 and brings with him many years of experience from the stationery and leather goods specialist Montblanc.

With your expansion to Paris, you have teased further openings...

We opened in Paris in the beginning of November. Before Paris, we also opened a Shop-in-Shop in Munich, Germany, inside the Lodenfrey Department Store. After those two openings, now we are extremely focused on other two important locations that we are going to open within this month.

One is in Qatar, inside the Printemps in Doha, and the other one is in Prague, with The Brands fot the opening of a new concept store in the luxury and fashion district. The concept store is structured on two floors. On the ground floor, there will be a Champagnerie, and in the basement, a 10 Corso Como space, with artistic perfumery, sneakers like New Balance, Salomon and of course our Signature collection.

Will these be temporary spaces?

No. The aim is to stay forever, but in any case, according to the contract, they all are supposed to stay for at least three years. And then according to the results we can also evolve a bit more, and increase the size of the space.

Was your space at Lodenfrey well received?

We started with a pop-up for three weeks and dedicated windows overlooking Munich's main square, and now we moved to another area within the ground floor. We will stay for at least three years.

How do you select these markets? Do they perform well in your e-commerce?

When I started at 10 Corso Como, it was very clear in my mind that it was mandatory to increase the brand awareness at an international level. With regard to the commercial partners, according to my international experience - I worked for luxury brands for which actually the presence inside department stores was the base for the international awareness development - we decided that it was strategic to leverage places considered leaders within the luxury industry with a high level of footfall.

At the beginning I got in contact with many different European players. And we chose to work with Printemps because they have always been a trendsetter and very much open to considering brands with maybe a low presence until that moment - but really cool and not easy to find around the world. So with Printemps, we did this double partnership for Paris and Doha, but we are also going next year to be present in another location that they have in an important capital of the fashion world.

And the other two?

We chose Lodenfrey, because, according to our experience in-store and online, German clients represent an important part of our sales. So we found that it was an opportunity to keep in touch locally with our German clients.

Prague we choose, because we love the project. The partner we found is very well respected, with a good reputation in the luxury and fashion market. And that's why we agreed.

How important are your international customers for sales?

International clients represent for us 75 to 80 percent of the total sales. And the split is basically 30 percent USA, 30 percent Asiaa – China, Japan , Korea. Consider that we have two big locations in Seoul. The first one was opened in 2008. So the brand awareness in Korea is very high for us.There is also a quite relevant portion coming from the Middle East and the rest of Europe – France, Germany and Switzerland.

Do you also want to expand further with your own stores?

We are focusing for next year to have another 10 Corso Como ecosystem. We love to call it an ecosystem because it's a system with many different identities. One identity is related to fashion, the other one to art, culture and food, including of course the restaurant.

Next year we want to open in an important region in Asia. A 10 Corso Como space as big as the one we have here in Milan. With the aim of having in the next four to five years, not less than another five to six big stores around the world.

How important is online retail for your business?

The digital business is quite important, because it represents roughly 20 percent of the total business. We have a dedicated team to develop this part of the business.

You have big plans while many retailers are struggling with a lack of consumer spending. Why now?

It's true, the moment is quite challenging, but we learn every day that if you play the match, by leveraging the experience, no matter the price, no matter necessarily the assortment, but what counts for people that decide to go to 10 Corso Como is the experience that they expect to find., despite all the issues that the world, not only the fashion industry, is facing with, we are having a good year, especially since the reopening here in Milan with the redesigned space.

We are growing since the beginning of September significantly double-digit and are above expectations. The result comes when a company invests in special events and experiences.

What kind of investments are these for you?

The art exhibitions that we are organizing represent a cost for the company as well as all the talks that we do to present a new magazine or book. We are confident and we will continue to invest in the coming future. We are quite a unique place and we don't have many competitors.

We complete the experience also with hospitality and food; we have the “3Rooms” in Milan, which is the smallest hotel in the world, but very cozy. So it's something that is unique. This is the secret!

How are you looking ahead to the coming Christmas business in this context?

We decided, first of all, to create the right atmosphere, much more by emphasizing the Christmas mood. We just installed a very nice lighting installation in the courtyard. We also are going to create for the month of December a strong focus for gifting on design, something that we didn't do last year.

From December 2nd we start to present our new selection of design pieces in partnership with a worldwide leader in the field, which is the perfect time for products beside fashion. So we feel like December will be another good month for 10 Corso Como.

And what are your expectations for the coming year?

We have big expectations because, once again, the first results since the reopening of Milan are super positive. So that's why we are confident also for next year.

How do you start the new order?

Every year, the buying team spends a lot of time doing research because every year, not less than 20 to 25 percent of the assortment is made with emerging brands. Why? Because this has also been a kind of lab for the fashion industry and we want to really anticipate the trends by also investing in emerging brands.

Besides those emerging brands, we are also going now in these weeks to focus on the big ones. We are one of the few carrying Phoebe Philo within the physical assortment and were the first physical store for the launch in September. It's working very well and we are super satisfied about the results.

We continue - as we do since the beginning - working with the Japanese brands Sacai, Yohji, Comme des Garçons or very creative brands like Maison Margiela and Rick Owens. They are what we call the beloved brands and the friends of our company.

What other projects are in the pipeline?

Beginning of next year, we will change the display of the current men's department because there will be another very important project coming. we will dedicate the central space of the store to an important Asian brand leader within the accessories .

We also just launched a collaboration with illycaffè. We wanted to offer our clients also the breakfast experience and so from December 2nd we will open the restaurant at 8 a.m. – current opening time is from 11 a.m. – to offer the people a unique breakfast in Milan.

So breakfast first and then shopping?

Yes first breakfast and then shopping

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.DE, translated and edited to English.

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