percassi's conquest: Sicilia Fashion Village - Value Retail News

SICIlIA OUTlET vIllAgE
percassi’s conquest:
Sicilia Fashion Village
The 270,000-sf Sicilia Fashion Village was developed by Gruppo Percassi through its
subsidiary Premium Retail. Percassi also developed Franciacorta Outlet Village in 2003.
14 InteRnatIonal outlet JouRnal WINTER 2011
The opening of the
Sicilian outlet center
represents more than
just another place
to shop.
The opening of Gruppo Percassi’s
€100 million Sicilia Fashion Village
on November 25, 2010, was seen as
the conquering of the last outlet frontier
in Italy.
Now, it appears, with this opening of
the first outlet center in Sicily, Italians
can relax in the happy knowledge that no
matter where they travel in their homeland
they can go outlet shopping. In
fact, Italy has at least 19 outlet centers
totaling more than 5.5 million sf in 12
provinces. At least three more centers
are being planned.
But there’s another reason for seeing
the opening as a conquest. Vincent Viola,
a minority shareholder in the project, best
summed up the underlying feeling:
“Sicilia Fashion Village is proof that you
can make a big investment in Sicily free
from the grip of the Mafia,” he said. “This
is an initiative of private enterprise and
the transparent cooperation with the local
government. Development in this region
can come only through the private initiative
of large groups.”
Located in Agira, in the province of
Enna, the 270,000-sf center is on the
A19 motorway that connects Palermo to
Catania, near the exit Dittaino. Percassi
developed Sicilia Fashion Village through
its subsidiary Premium Retail, directed by
Stefano Stroppiana.
Stroppiana expects the center – which
opened with more than 70 luxury tenants
– to receive as many as 3.5 million visitors
in the first year. Helping to attract
those shoppers is a schedule filled with