retailer founded milan italy 1865 headquarters milan italy key people sudhitham chirathivat chairman alberto baldan ceo products clothing food household items furniture revenue 375.5 million 2010 number of employees 1 529 2010 parent central retail corporation 2011 present website www.rinascente.it la rinascente derived from rinascita means rebirth in italian is a thai owned italian retailer operating upscale department stores in the area of clothing household and beauty products founded in milan in 1917 by senatore borletti from the merger of the businesses alle citt d italia and magazzini vittoria . 1 on may 27 2011 central retail bought a 100 % stake of the 150 year old store firm for 260 million euros . our ultimate goal is to take it global and to be recognised all across asia be it in thailand china japan or hong kong chief executive officer tos chirathivat told reporters . central retail also planned new rinascente stores in italy and expected the takeover to break even within eight years . currently la rinascente owns a chain of 11 department stores located in italian major cities two in rome and one in milan genoa turin florence palermo catania cagliari padova and monza . the flagship concept store is la rinascente milano piazza duomo in milan . vittorio radice joined the company in 2005 and is credited with its turnaround . 2 the retail chain is known for its collaboration with contemporary designers and architects such as fabio novembre future systems lifschutz davidson sandilands and vincent van duysen . 3 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 external links 4 references history edit the historical la rinascente buildingin milan to the left of the milan cathedral the bocconi brothers opened a first clothing shop named aux villes d italie in via santa radegonda next to piazza del duomo milan in 1877 inspired by le bon march probably the first modern clothing store which had been successful in paris for some decades already . the business grew very quickly and within few years they opened stores in several more italian cities . people were attracted by the then new concept of exposing the clothes in plain sight and allowing customers to walk around the shop and watch and desire . the bocconi brothers however failed to support this advantage with a targeted commercial strategy so the success was relatively short lived . the onset of world war i worsened the decline and by 1917 the chain of stores was about to go out of business . instead the bocconi brothers sold to entrepreneur senatore borletti who went looking for ideas to relaunch the business . he hired decadent poet gabriele d annunzio arguably the most influential figure in the italian culture at the time to suggest a new public image for the store . the poet suggested la rinascente i.e. she who is born again as the new name to symbolize the rebirth of the store but also and more significantly the rebirth of italy at the end of a war which was causing widespread poverty . on christmas night 1918 the first christmas in peacetime a short circuit caused the renovated main store in piazza del duomo to burn to the ground . when it opened again after being rebuilt the name had a new meaning besides the original that of a place which had been literally born again from its ashes . the borletti family kept ownership of the chain until the late sixties . the stores have since kept the name suggested by d annunzio and are still very popular today among italian citizens and tourists . 4 5 see also edit italy portal companies portal list of italian companies external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to la rinascente . milan store references edit http www.treccani.it enciclopedia la rinascente 1 2 rinascente un marchio di d annunzio rinascente a trademark by d annunzio in italian . corriere della sera . 2003 10 02 . retrieved 2010 12 11 . dall italia affamata di cibo a quella nutrita di consumismo from the food hungry italy to the one nourished with consumerism in italian . storia in network . 2006 01 01 . retrieved 2010 12 11 . central acquires italian retail chain la rinascente at core of crc s global ambition retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title la rinascente & oldid 736864430 categories retail companies of italyclothing companies of italycompanies based in milan1865 establishments in italydepartment stores of thailandcentral groupretail companies of thailandhidden categories cs1 italian language sources it use dmy dates from december 2010 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as 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