The Turkish fashion chain, which has more than 1,200 stores worldwide, will arrive at the Mallplaza Oeste shopping center in the Cerrillos district of Santiago.
LC Waikiki is a chain with more than 1,200 stores that aims to be one of the “three most successful clothing brands in Europe.”
Globally, it has 1,200 stores across more than 60 countries, a list that will now include Chile.
Turkish fashion chain LC Waikiki is opening its first retail location in Chile with a store at the Mallplaza Oeste shopping center, according to an article by Chilean business publication Diario Financiero.
LC Waikiki is a multinational company founded in 1988 by three French partners as a wholesale brand.
However, in 1997, Turkish company Tema Tekstil—part of the Taha Group, a holding company based in Istanbul—acquired the company from one of its founders, George Amouyal, who still holds 7% of the firm’s shares.
Subsequently, Tema Tekstil was renamed LC Waikiki Retailing Services.
Under its new ownership, the company shifted its focus to fashion retail—targeting the affordable price segment—and began accelerating its growth, ultimately becoming the giant it is today.
The company operates with «the vision of becoming one of the three most successful clothing brands in Europe,» according to its corporate website.
In 2023, it closed the year with 55,000 employees, net sales of 111.9 billion Turkish lira (approximately US$3.3 billion at today’s exchange rate), and an additional US$1.1 billion in exports.
In recent years, it has continued expanding its markets and, since 2017, has entered countries such as Indonesia, Kenya, Croatia, Palestine, Malta, and Congo. In Latin America, LC Waikiki is already present in Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, Curaçao, and the Dominican Republic.
Mallplaza’s plan
The general manager of Mallplaza’s Chile Division, Pablo Pulido, told Diario Financiero that LC Waikiki’s arrival aligns with the shopping center chain’s strategy to renew its mall offerings.
«To achieve this, we aim to offer our urban center platform to new brands with operations in developed markets—like Waikiki—that now wish to enter or strengthen their presence in the Andean region,» he explained.
«We are very pleased with the arrival of LC Waikiki (...), not only because it is a high-value global brand making its debut in Chile with Mallplaza, but also because it is a commercial partner we are confident will add significant value to Mallplaza Oeste’s offering.»
The executive noted that in recent years, the company has been investing in renovations at the Cerrillos property.
As part of this plan, it has incorporated an Ikea store spanning over 25,000 m², remodeled the Cinemark cinema complex, and brought in other brands such as Under Armour, Decathlon, Ellesse, Victoria’s Secret, Miniso, and restaurants like Muu Grill, El Quincho del Cacho, and Brussels. The results, Pulido assured, have been quick to materialize.
In the second quarter, Mallplaza Oeste increased its sales by 8%, its revenue by 11.7%, and its visitor traffic rose to 6.2 million, growing by 11.1%. As a result, it achieved a 98.7% occupancy rate across its 182,365 m² of leasable space.
Would you like to find out more about retail in Chile? See the following articles about retail operators in the country.
%2017.11.51.png)
