[3] In 1865, brothers Luigi and Ferdinando Bocconi opened a store on Via Santa Radegonda, Milan the first shop in Italy that sold ready-to-wear clothing.

This was the first of its kind in Italy, and was conceived following the model of Aristide Boucicaut's store, Le Bon Marché in Paris, made famous by Émile Zola in his 1883-novel Au Bonheur des Dames.

[5] Under Borletti the objective was to make the store elegant and distinctive by selling high-quality products without excessive prices and take a "democratic" approach to luxury that would attract customers of both high and middle-low income classes.

Over the years, other stores opened: Padua (1923), Catania (1923), Messina (1924), Bari (1925), Piazza Loreto in Milan, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome, Taranto, Syracuse, and Trapani (all between 1927 and 1928).

The Piazza Duomo flagship reopened in 1921 after a complete rebuild which expanded the store to include additional services (a bank, hair salon, tearoom and post office).

At this time Rinascente launched campaigns to promote products manufactured by Italian companies and created strong ties through its distribution network with consumers thus catering for the needs of the general public.

In 1941, the National Clothing Association declared la Rinascente as a leader in the retail market since its sales area in square metres was double that of Standa and Coin put together.

The City Council of Milan allowed la Rinascente to rent three large rooms in the Palazzo della Ragione in Via Mercanti so that it could keep supplying the general public with goods.

Between 1945 and 1946 a rebuilding project included 19 UPIM stores, la Rinascente in Cagliari, the Head Office in Via Carducci, Milan as well as the warehousing facilities.

[citation needed] During this time Rinascente sold products imported mainly from the US and promoted a series of cultural events, which gave the public a glimpse of what was happening around the world.

Albe Steiner [it], who got the idea from one of his own work instruments, created the logo of the award while it was left to Alberto Rosselli and Marco Zanuso to design the actual compass given as a prize.

[12] During the Christmas period, there was such a great influx of customers that the Rinascente store in Milan was at times forced to block the entrances owing to overcrowding.

[citation needed] Also in that year, Rinascente opened a new store designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg in Piazza Fiume, Rome.

Two years later the negotiations were successfully concluded for the purchase of Croff Nuova SpA, a company specialising in the distribution of homeware.

The group closed with an increase in turnover and developed new strategies to reach the objective of strengthening the food sector by opening 40 hypermarkets by 2002.

The complete renovation of the store in Piazza Duomo included the addition of an extremely cosmopolitan Food Hall in 2007 and in 2009 the Design Supermarket taking up a whole floor with over 200 brands on display.

[18] During a press conference, Tos Chirathivat (CEO of Central) said “Our ultimate goal is to take it global and to be recognised all across Asia, be it in Thailand, China, Japan or Hong Kong,” and that he wanted the brand to be one of the top 5 department stores in the world.