Inditex pulled four brands out of China — and is still closing Zara stores

Inditex built its China footprint on more than Zara: Bershka, Pull&Bear and Stradivarius flanked it for younger shoppers, and Uterqüe aimed higher. In January 2021 the group confirmed the closure of all China stores of the three youth brands; by 2022 all four brands had fully exited the market, leaving Zara and Massimo Dutti to carry the group. Oysho followed them out in 2024.

The retreat has not stopped with the sister brands. Zara closed more than ten mainland stores in 2025, and in January 2025 shut seven in under a month, exiting the cities of Shijiazhuang and Guiyang entirely; another wave of at least seven closures followed in January 2026, including a Hangzhou store that had run for twelve years. Fifty-nine Zara stores remain — eight in Shanghai, seven in Beijing, one each in cities like Tianjin and Taiyuan.

None of this shows up as distress at the group level: Inditex grew revenue 7.1% to €27.4 billion in the first three quarters of FY2024 while Zara's global count fell by 60 a year later. The strategy is deliberate — close ordinary stores, open giants: a 2,500-plus-square-metre Asia-Pacific flagship opened in Nanjing in 2025, and another is planned for Shanghai's Huaihai Road in 2026.