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11.11.2011

Hello Zara, it's been too long!

Now this is the evening I had been looking forward to for a while. I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the first Zara store in Southern Africa on Wednesday, 9 November, at the new extention of Sandton City, Johannesburg (yes, the 80th Zara store in the world).

There's no doubt in my mind that this Zara store is going to require South African retailers to pull their socks up super fast. 2700 square metres of store; women's, men's and kid's (0 to 16 years old) sections; new clothing stock twice a week; prices ranging from R79 for vests, R349 for jeans, R499 for dresses, and just over a R1000 for shoes; a 48-hour delivery cycle; and (yes, there's more) trendy clothes from this past Summer in Europe - I mean, c'mon!

I was sold by the colours. Coloured jeans, coloured tailored blazers, coloured maxi skirts - colour-blocking abound. Judging from the length of the queues at the launch, everyone, from the media to the celebrities, bloggers and stylists, is mad about all things Zara.

Also, besides the sheer reputation of Zara, the variety of clothing will be a big crowd-puller. Whether your style is more relaxed, or playful, or chic, or vintage, you'll find something that you'll love - and the men aren't left out either (mmhmm, yeah, you have no excuse not own chinos now!).

Can you just imagine what will happen in South Africa when (not if) H&M comes?