Beymen's 130,000-Sq-Ft Tersane Flagship Set to Beat Year-One Target by 15%

Beymen Tersane, the 130,000-square-foot multibrand flagship that anchors Istanbul's $2 billion Tersane redevelopment, is on course to overshoot its first-year sales target by around 15 percent, according to Beymen Group chief executive Elif Çapçı. The retailer has invested close to 20 million euros in the store, which sits in a 600-year-old former Ottoman naval shipyard on the Golden Horn.

The store, designed by Rem Koolhaas' OMA, opened one year ago in a district that was, until recently, a closed military zone. Beymen's Qatari owner Mayhoola for Investments — sole shareholder since 2019 — sanctioned the bet when the site was, in Çapçı's words, a wasteland. Mayhoola chief executive and Beymen chairman Rachid Mohamed Rachid admitted to nerves. "I was very scared, to be honest," he said during a visit on Saturday. His verdict now: "Forget what is happening in the rest of the world: the reality of luxury in Turkey is that it's a growing market and it will continue to grow."

What does the flagship actually deliver?

The format is horizontal rather than department-store vertical: nine interconnected fashion galleries, each dedicated to a segment, plus four VIP suites, a homewares floor, an in-house restaurant, Bardot Bleu, and a Golden Goose-operated coffee shop. Retrofit constraints meant Beymen could not touch the walls of the historical structures.

International visitors account for 18 percent of sales at Tersane, against a 10 percent average across Beymen's other multibrand locations. The store leans heavily on VICs — very important clients — with larger ticket sizes while foot traffic builds. "The traffic will grow over time, but the customers who come here, the ticket sizes are much bigger," Çapçı said. The wider development targets 45,000 to 60,000 daily visitors, peaking above 100,000 at weekends and during events such as Contemporary Istanbul, per local media.

To draw crowds, Beymen has mounted "Timeless Treasures — The Eternal Journey of the Bag," featuring 80 embellished bags from 55 brands, including pieces made exclusively for the show and an 1886 Louis Vuitton trunk made for Sultan Abdülhamid II. Laurence Benaïs curates; Bureau Betak built the midnight-blue set. It runs until Feb. 6.

Phased, not aggressive

The surrounding enclave is arriving in stages. A Foster + Partners-designed open-air luxury mall is due for completion by September 2028; a scale model lists Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu among future tenants. An operational mall already houses Sephora, Gap, Levi's and Victoria's Secret, plus a Chanel beauty boutique. Two hotels exist, a third is planned, and two marinas, two museums and a ferry stop are on the drawing board.

Çapçı calls the plan phased, "not a very aggressive business plan," but says the store runs slightly ahead of it. Beymen expects Tersane eventually to rival Zorlu Center and İstinyePark, its top two Istanbul luxury developments — a claim resting on monobrand commitment, which appears secured. "Almost all of them signed up for the upcoming luxury part, so we're excited, and we are increasingly relieved that this is developing as intended," she said.

Group numbers and the growth stack

Beymen Group operates 290 locations and expects revenues of 1.4 billion to 1.5 billion euros in 2026, up from 1.3 billion euros in 2025. First-nine-month revenues rose 15 percent year on year in euro terms. Tourism supplies only 15 percent of revenues; Rachid is counting instead on domestic demand from a rising middle class. Middle East conflict has diverted some traffic from Dubai, with more Russian shoppers, but no direct demand or logistics impact.

The growth channels multiply:

• Monobrand: 56 boutiques for partners, expanded through July's acquisition of Dilasima Group (Max Mara, Boggi Milano, Furla); Valentino, Ferragamo, Pucci, Zadig & Voltaire and Toteme boutiques are in the pipeline.
• Beauty: Beymen Beauty Studio, launched last year with three Istanbul locations, four more planned for 2026 and a long-run target of 30 stores in a dozen cities. "In order to grow, we have to go outside of the stores," Çapçı said.
• E-commerce: 30 percent of luxury and beauty revenues, through a curated Beymen.com offer.

Structural supports include a young population of more than 86 million, installment-based credit card spending habitual from chronic inflation, and Istanbul and Antalya ranking in the world's top 10 most visited cities on Euromonitor's 2025 index. "Despite luxury not doing great over the last years, this has been a much more resilient and growing market, and the rest depends on how well you execute," Çapçı said. Whether a phased plan and a 15 percent beat hold up through 2028's mall completion is now the measurable question.