Natura celebrates its 30th anniversary, with a network of 235 stores and sales of 135 million

Sergio Durany is an atypical businessman. He doesn't like to set big growth targets or talk much about figures. "Objectives and projections frustrate, we don't want to be greedy, it's better to go step by step and be able to sleep soundly," comments the founder and owner of the Natura chain, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary with the satisfaction of having been able to consolidate in the market a brand that has known how to reinvent itself and adapt to the passage of time. "We have done it without ever having asked for a line of credit or a loan from any bank, we haven't needed to because we have always been able to finance ourselves with our own resources," he assures.

"At Natura there has never been a plan, we have let ourselves go, that's why I am very excited to commemorate the 30 years since the opening of my first store on Consell de Cent street, hopefully we can also celebrate 50," says Durany in the renovated establishment that the clothing and gift and decoration items chain has just opened in L'illa Diagonal. It is an iconic store that represents a radical change in design for Natura and is the work of the Quintana Partners studio, by interior designers Pol Castells and Benito Escat, also authors of the Finestres bookstore in Barcelona.

After years of strong expansion, Natura currently has a network of 235 stores and expects to close 2022 with a turnover of 135 million euros, recovering pre-pandemic levels and double-digit growth. Durany resists making future projections and assures that from now on the opening plan will be calm, with a maximum of ten stores per year, like those recently opened in Vitoria and Santander. There will also be repurchases of franchises to recover direct management of certain territories. Of the 235 stores, only about sixty are owned, with large franchisees covering the central area of Spain, Levante and the Canary Islands. The group has about a thousand employees.

Natura also operates in Andorra and Portugal (40 stores) and has recently arrived in Italy with a local partner who has already opened five points of sale in Torino (2), Milan (2) and Bergamo. "In Italy we will go little by little, from north to south; we expect to have 20 stores in the country within two years," says Durany, who rules out taking Natura to other countries. "Going abroad is very complicated; the international expansion carried out by other Spanish chains has a lot of merit, but Natura has always been a very cautious company and we like to live well. Going to more countries would make us lose quality of life and we don't want to burn out our staff. We are committed to quiet and very sustainable growth," reflects the businessman.

According to Durany, "the great struggle" consists of "being able to keep the brand alive" over time and, in turn, "preserving its DNA." "We have always had the script very clear, the important thing is not to deviate," although he admits having made mistakes in the past, such as the decision to over-illuminate its stores and dress them in white in one of the image changes that was made. "We were wrong, it was a mistake that led us to lose our identity and vulgarized us," he points out. In this sense, he emphasizes that the new L'illa Diagonal store is a clear example of Natura's desire to "recover its identity" and re-tune with its values. "In this store, you breathe peace, harmony, and tranquility. It represents a radical change, but without losing the experience we want to offer at Natura," he notes.

The company has invested close to 400,000 euros in the remodeling of the L'illa Diagonal flagship, an emblematic store for the chain, as it was the second one to open, in 1994. Pol Castells and Benito Escat have worked for six months on the project, inspired by the "cave" concept that characterized the first Natura stores in their beginnings. The curved shapes and the earthy color that envelops the entire establishment, built with sustainable materials, stand out. Thus, a reddish natural clay has been used to cover the walls and the floor is a parquet made of cork.

"It was my daughter Sandra who convinced me to commission the project to Quintana Partners. I didn't want to visit the works so as not to interfere, but I am super delighted with the result, it's a 360º turn, just what we wanted," Durany says with satisfaction. The owner of Natura would like to implement this concept in the stores he owns in airports (in cities like Barcelona, Malaga, Ibiza or Seville), true engines of the chain.

In the renovated L'illa store, a special prominence has been given to scent, with a prominent space to display the wide range of candles, air fresheners and aroma diffusers. The benches with cushions for sitting along the store stand out, as does an area dedicated to the sale of Patagonia brand products, for which Sergio Durany feels great admiration. Except for books, the rest of the immense offering that makes up the Natura universe is 100% own design.

Precisely, the person in charge of Natura's creative and design department is Sandra Durany, one of the businessman's four daughters, who joined the company eight years ago. Her sisters do not work in the company. The eldest, Paula, is a psychologist, while the twins Claudia and Sayana Durany have created their own fashion brand, Gimaguas, a project totally independent of Natura.

The chain has Esperanza Martín as general director, to whom Sergio Durany attributes a large part of the brand's success and financial solvency. The group also owns the Tierra Extraña and Be stores, which they use as a testing ground and to try out new concepts. The businessman assures that he "has never thought of selling" the company and that his vocation is for it to remain 100% family-owned, totally ruling out the entry of funds or financial partners.

After the reopening in L'illa, Natura already has another project about to start that particularly excites the founder. It is the comprehensive renovation of the company's headquarters, located on Ecuador Street in Barcelona. The new corporate offices will involve an investment of 700,000 euros and have been commissioned to interior designer Pilar Líbano. The works are expected to begin next December.

Durany also aims to find a 500-square-meter space in the center of Barcelona to which he would move the Consell de Cent store, turning the establishment into the brand's flagship store in the city. "I've been looking for a space with these characteristics for years, but I can't find it," he concludes.