End of an era as Zara closes its final store in Fuerteventura
Fuerteventura will become the first island in the Canary Islands with no Zara shops, after Inditex confirmed it will close its last remaining store at the start of 2026. The move is part of a major restructuring of the fashion group’s stores across Spain, driven by the rise of online shopping and a shift towards larger, more modern shops in key locations.
The closure means shoppers on the island will now have to buy Zara products online or travel to another island. The store had been operating for around 20 years, which makes the announcement a dramatic change in the island’s retail scene.
Inditex has been reducing the number of its smaller and medium-sized shops across the country. In the first three months of 2025 alone, it closed 52 Zara stores in Spain and more than 130 shops across all its brands. Since 2020, the group has shut over 500 Zara stores worldwide as it focuses on fewer but bigger retail spaces.
The company’s new strategy places more importance on large stores, digital technology, and online sales, which continue to grow every year. Inditex is investing heavily in logistics and digital systems so that online orders can be delivered faster and more efficiently.
Even with fewer shops, the group expects its total retail space to grow by around 5% between 2025 and 2026, thanks to the opening of large flagship stores.
For Fuerteventura, the disappearance of Zara is the end of a long-standing presence on the island and could signal similar changes in other parts of the Canaries, where online shopping now outperforms physical stores.
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