Tomorrow sees the opening, in centre of Milan, of the new Mondadori Megastore in via San Pietro all’Orto 11. A place for encounters between people and with books where the buying experience becomes a voyage of exploration and discovery: as well as books, the core of the store’s assortment, visitors will also find a range of entertainment offers, services and a Café area.

The Megastore in via San Pietro all’Orto is the first example of bookstore with an innovative concept in the layout and a different formula in the assortment. The opening of this new outlet, alongside the Duomo and via Marghera stores in the city, is a continuation of the consolidation plan for the Retail activities of the Mondadori Group, which has the most extensive network of bookstores in Italy, with over 600 outlets around the country.

“The launch of the new format Megastore in San Pietro all’Orto is an important step in the development process of our activities in the Retail sector, one of our core businesses,” declared Ernesto Mauri, chief executive of the Mondadori Group. “We are leader in the book market and, for a publisher like us, being able to depend on a such an extensive chain of bookshops across the country is certainly an enormous strategic asset and a privileged way of being in direct contact with consumers, given that, every year, over 20 million people come into our stores and speak to us.” Mauri concluded.

“The development of the offer, the buying experience, the enhancement of the product, services and a comfortable environment: these are the key elements that have inspired us in the work of innovating the traditional bookshop and making it a model that enables us to get closer, and with greater frequency and satisfaction, to the worlds of culture and entertainment,” explained Mario Maiocchi, managing director of Mondadori Retail.

The design and layout of the Mondadori Megastore in San Pietro all’Orto was overseen with Mondadori Retail by the Milan-based design studio Migliore + Servetto Architects. On three levels and with a total floor space of 750 square metres, the store is characterised by a display system that with a light-touch design and rich chromatic feel and materials, highlights the real protagonists, books, which visitors are invited to touch, open and look through. A broad central staircase creates a vertical link between the three levels and leads the visitor through a ambience marked by the contemporary and the traditional where the red of Mondadori – the distinguishing element of the staircase and all of the signage – mixes with the green and the white of the metal fittings.

The design combines welcome areas with displays to create an innovative relationship with visitors who are free to move around according to their needs and interests. The Mondadori Megastore is a place to spend time and to return to, for those who love reading with comfortable chairs and a wide assortment that ranges from literature to comics and foreign-language books, organised as follows:

• the ground floor is home to the MARKETPLACE, with the most recent publications, stationery and gift box selections, as well as technology products, alongside a new customer assistance and after-sales service Help;

• the first floor is devoted to BOOKS&CAFÉ, where the store’s extensive book offer is located, with the Comics area and stationery store, as well as the Mondadori Café, developed along with Cibiamogroup, a leading company in quality fast food services: an area of encounter, inside the store, where adults and children, from 9 am until 11 pm everyday, will find selected products and simple recipes, all reflective of the best Italian tradition. The Café will also host meetings with authors and book presentations;

• the lower-ground floor also has a KIDS zone for children and teenagers: an area that brings together the physical and digital dimension thanks to touchwalls, designed to amuse and stimulate the imaginations of young readers through drawing and group games.

And the focus on the customer doesn’t end with the physical space of the Megastore, but also comes alive through an integrated system of digital services and tools linked to the web site Mondadoristore.it and, from today, with the new Mondadori Card app, available for both Apple and Android smartphones, which allows Mondadori Card holders to manage, even more conveniently than before, their profile and with the new store locator function, to receive information about events and initiatives in their nearest Mondadori store. Customers of the store will also soon be able to access the new book on demand service which offers readers a catalogue of over 7 million titles from across the world.