Zara

Today I went shopping to Oslo with my sister. In Oslo there is a long street where are a lot of shops, I think there were about fife H&M stores :D
But I wanted to write about my favorite store- Zara. I thought thats it's interesting to know something about Zara's history.
The founder of Zara, Amancio Ortega (who also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Oysho, Uterqüe, Stradivarius and Bershka), opened the first Zara store in 1975 in a central street in A Coruña, Galicia. In 1980, the company started its international expansion through Porto, Portugal. In 1989 they entered the United States and in 1990 France.
50% of the products Zara sells are manufactured in Spain, 26% in the rest of Europe, and 24% in Asian and African countries and the rest of the world. It produces about 11,000 distinct items annually compared with 2,000 to 4,000 items for its key competitors. The company can design a new product and have finished goods in its stores in four to five weeks; it can modify existing items in as little as two weeks.

Zara was described by Louis Vuitton fashion director Daniel Piette as "possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world."

Stores:

Spain: 329 stores (164 with Zara Kids)
France: 114 stores (4 with Zara Kids)
Italy: 78 stores (12 with Zara Kids)
Portugal: 61 stores (23 with Zara Kids)
United Kingdom: 65 stores
Germany: 64 stores
Japan: 53 stores
Mexico: 48 stores
United States: 48 stores
China: 45 stores
Greece: 44 stores (6 with Zara Kids)
Russia: 37 stores
Poland: 30 stores
Belgium: 27 stores
Brazil: 27 stores
Turkey: 26 stores
Saudi Arabia: 22 stores
Canada: 19 stores
Israel: 19 stores
South Korea: 20 stores
Netherlands: 17 stores
Austria: 11 stores
Venezuela: 11 stores
Romania: 10 stores
Switzerland: 10 stores
Ireland: 9 stores
United Arab Emirates: 9 stores
Argentina: 8 stores
Colombia: 8 stores
Indonesia: 8 stores
Sweden: 8 stores
Chile: 7 stores
Singapore: 7 stores
Czech Republic: 6 stores
Hungary: 6 stores
Philippines: 6 stores
Ukraine: 25 stores
Kuwait: 5 stores
Lebanon: 5 stores
Malaysia: 5 stores
Slovenia: 5 stores
Thailand: 5 stores
Cyprus: 4 stores
Finland: 4 stores
Latvia: 4 stores
Lithuania: 4 stores
Morocco: 4 stores
Serbia: 4 stores
Croatia: 3 stores
Denmark: 3 stores
Egypt: 3 stores
Norway: 3 stores
Bahrain: 2 stores
Bulgaria: 2 stores
Costa Rica: 2 stores
El Salvador: 2 stores
Estonia: 2 stores
Guatemala: 2 stores
Honduras: 2 stores
India: 3 stores
Iceland: 2 stores
Iran: 2 stores
Jordan: 2 stores
Luxembourg: 2 stores
Panama: 2 stores
Qatar: 2 stores
Slovakia: 2 stores
Tunisia: 2 stores
Uruguay: 2 stores
Andorra: 1 store
Dominican Republic: 1 store
Kazakhstan: 1 store
Malta: 1 store
Monaco: 1 store
Montenegro: 1 store
Oman: 1 store
Puerto Rico: 1 store
Syria: 1 store
Algeria: 1 store
Australia: 1 store (Westfield Sydney opening 2011)

Source: http://uniquefsn.blogspot.com/2010/08/zara.html