MERRY OLYMPICS: Forget Christmas — Milan is already looking ahead and feeling the Olympic spirit.
The city’s Rinascente department store is gearing up for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games by dedicating its traditional activations for the holiday season to the sports events, which will run Feb. 6 to 22 and March 6 to 15 next year, respectively.
Among the sponsors of the Games, the retailer controlled by Thailand’s Central Group hosted an event attended by its top management, institutions, Italian athletes and local celebrities on Tuesday evening to unveil its Christmas windows and light up the facade that overlooks the Duomo cathedral.
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The department store’s arched windows showcased arty installations, as well as the torches and medals designed for the Games against snowy-looking graphic backgrounds. The event’s official mascots — two cheerful stoats named Milo and Tina in a nod to the host cities — were also on display.
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The windows are part of the wider “A Window on the Winter Games” activation, which saw the retailer also decking its distinctive arcade with snowflake-shaped lightings and projecting the Olympic rings and logo of the Games on the facade.
The takeover continued inside the department store, with banners decking the escalators and a pop-up store offering a selection of the Games’ official merchandise installed on the basement floor, which is dedicated to the design and tech categories.
While the windows and lights will run until Jan. 6, the pop-up store will operate until Feb. 22 to cover the full length of the Olympic Games.
“This activation is exactly in line with our strategy of being a media company [and the claim] for the city, in the city, with the city,” said Rinascente’s chief executive officer Pierluigi Cocchini before unveiling the windows. “We’re used to this kind of takeover, but obviously this partner is exceptional, it happens once in a lifetime.”
To be sure, in the past the retailer leveraged its nine arched windows in Milan, as well as those of its outposts in Rome and Florence, to tie up with luxury houses such as Fendi, Prada and Loewe for seasonal takeovers. Rinascente also frequently spotlighted Christmas-related players, supporting local artisans known for crafting handmade figurines of Nativity scenes or international companies specializing in music boxes and miniatures recreating enchanted Christmas villages, for example.
Shoppers visiting Rinascente’s jewel-in-the-crown location in Milan can still find plenty of the Christmas-themed knick-knackery at the unit’s sixth floor, and the traditional holiday pastry and gourmet delicacies at the seventh-floor food court.
In addition to Rinascente, other sponsors of the Games include Kiko Milano, Salesforce, Technogym and Uber. Main partners comprise brands such as EA7, Omega, P&G, Salomon, Pirelli, Alibaba and Samsung, to name a few.