Börlind Opens City Spa in Milan

Annemarie Börlind, the firm in Calw with a long tradition, is breaking new ground. The company expanded its sales channels in Germany from the classical health food trade to perfumeries, and established a presence in the wholefood trade with the brands Tautropfen and Anne Lind. Over and above this, with the opening of the first flagship store Börlind City Spa in Milan, Michael and Daniela Lindner are promoting the brands Annemarie Börlind, Dado Sens, Anne Lind and Tautropfen on the international stage. Other cities are set to follow.

Picture: Christine Wandrey, Michael Lindner, Daniela Lindner, Willi Burk, Rainer Plum

With the store situated in a prime location on the Corso Como, Mr Lindner has invested nearly half a million euros in extending the premises on two storeys to 80m². Using unusual materials and a pioneering interior design concept, Burk, a firm of architects in Calw, has created a prestige address in the Italian city of fashion and design. The approach is that of the purist but with refinement and functional details, and Willi Burk (picture) and his colleague Ulrich Schwarz have designed the limited space to create a feel-good ambience and to make the best use of the two levels.

The wall on the right, faced with grey “Osermone”-gneiss from Tessin, stretches from the bottom to the top of the two storeys, and set into it are drawers for storing products. The LED-illuminated acrylic shelves also slide into the the gneis wall. They can be pulled out for product presentation and re-arranged. Opposite the irregular natural stone wall is a wavy cladding made from Corian (picture below), a recyclable high-tec artificial material. The wave shape of the walls creates three dimensional spaces that are also used for product presentation. Ulrich Schwarz explains: “The materials represent closeness to nature and changeability.”

From the entrance area with the tills and sales, broad steps lead down into the cosmetics area, with the treatment salon, the focus of City Spa, separated off by a sliding door. It is here that beautician Christine Wandrey (picture) will pamper her female and male customers with natural cosmetics products and both classical and modern methods of treatment, such as ayurveda and beauty defect repair. The store, that is open every day from 9.00 to 20.00 and until 23.00 on two days a week, is run by three permanent staff and one freelance. The concept of City Spa is based on attracting customers by individual approaches. Someone very well known in Milan’s high society will promote Börlind City Spa and recommend it to selected VIPs. “The address is in an exclusive area which in the future will become a Mecca for shoppers,” enthuses Michael Lindner. In the vicinity are theatres, and bars are planned too, and the smart Designer Gallery Corso Como 10 is only a few doors away from City Spa. A promenade going as far as the cathedral is being constructed. Mr Lindner is also relying on the public’s familiarity with the Börlind brand, which has been sold in perfumeries and erboristerias (drugstores run by the owners) since 1974. The brand Tautropfen has been on the market in Italy for about a year.

The head of Börlind is convinced: “The time was ripe for a high-value perfumery. We have reached that point with our brands and City Spa is a concept that is for us first and foremost an image project.” Staff in the field in Germany have also been working hard to secure a presence in the perfumery business and, according to sales director Harald Lukas, they have been largely successful, with Börlind being listed both in perfumeries run by their owners and perfumery chains. Herr Lindner is contemplating international expansion, with  Börlind stores like City Spa in Milan opening in cities such as Berlin, London, Paris and even New York and Tokyo. Milan was his first choice because the city is popular particularly with tourists from Asia who, apart from culture and sightseeing, spend time shopping for high value goods.