If the beleaguered bosses of the struggling high-street retail chains are looking at ways of growing their businesses, they could perhaps do worse than take a few Spanish lessons.
While high-profile names like Marks & Spencer, C&A, Benetton and even Gap are scaling back or retrenching their international operations, Inditex, the little-known name behind Spanish fashion chain Zara, is bucking the trend.
With 1,080 outlets in 33 countries worldwide, the group from La Coruna - a town only football fans will have heard of - is teaching other clothing retailers a thing or two about how to build an international business.
Walk into any of the company's Zara …