Furla opens in Russia

The Italian luxury leather goods retailer Furla SpA is to open its first store in Russia this week. The company, based in San Lazzaro di Savena, is in the midst of an enormous international expansion process. The new 70 square metre stand-alone store in Moscow is to open 10 December. The company plans to open a further seven stores in Russia over the next three years. The second store in Moscow is set to open in February next year with a third store opening in St. Petersburg later on in the year. Furthermore, Furla is in talks with potential Russian partners to offer its products at up market Russian retailers.

Furla will now have 183 stores in 64 countries. It opened a flagship store in New York in February of this year, and it will be opening up to 40 stores across the US by 2006. Furla lans to open at least 72 stores next year. The current expansion should help increase sales by 30% to EUR108 million (GBP77 million).