In an episode of Friends, Monica Geller along with Rachel and Phoebe go to a discount wedding dress store. Between pushes, screams and whistles, they manage to come out with the perfect dress in the middle of the chaos. The scene, as iconic as it is exaggerated, reflects something very real: the magnetism exerted by sales, that moment when desire and opportunity are found at half price.
For years, that image has also been part of the European landscape. Every January or July, shop windows are filled with red posters and shopping centers become a battlefield for bargain hunters. But what if sales weren’t a seasonal event? What if there was a place where discounts were the norm, not the exception?
The American model in Europe. The Polish chain Halfprice has brought this modelknown as off-price: permanent stores where premium brand products – clothing, footwear, accessories or cosmetics – are offered with discounts that can exceed 50%. Their model is based on acquiring surplus inventory, products from past seasons or factory balances, all new and in their original packaging.
The format is reminiscent of popular American outlets Ross, Marshalls either TJ Maxxsomething that does not go unnoticed by customers. In Google reviews collected for 20 minutesbuyers define it as “a store similar to Ross or Marshall in the US” or even “a large brand name clothing market.” Others highlight its spaciousness: “A very large store where everything is well organized by sizes and its constant variety”, one of the keys to the model off-price: New products arrive every day.
A model that fits the new consumer. The success of HalfPrice is not explained only by its discounts, but by the economic and cultural moment that Europe is experiencing. Traditional luxury has become more expensive —prices have risen 25% since 2019— and has left out many aspirational consumers who could previously afford a brand-name treat.
That gap is being filled by different market responses. On the one hand, phenomena such as the so-called “hallway luxury” —exemplified by Mercadona and its Deliplus cosmetics, which imitate products from companies like MAC or Benefit for less than six euros— or the culture of dupein which Generation Z celebrates affordable knockoffs of luxury items. According to Vogue Businessfind a dupe and showing it on networks has become a gesture of pride and creativity.
HalfPrice represents the other side of that trend. There are no imitations here, but rather original products from recognized brands, from surplus or past collections. Your proposal is different: democratize access to real luxury, offering quality and authenticity at lower prices. In a scenario where the consumer seeks value without giving up the desire for a brand, HalfPrice occupies an intermediate space between inaccessible luxury and fast fashion: a place where authenticity can also be affordable.
A expansion at full speed. In just one year, HalfPrice has just opened its first store Spanish in Zaragoza last year to have eight establishments in different cities: Madrid, Almería, Bilbao, Cartagena, Lorca, Ponferrada and Cádiz.
On a continental scale, the expansion is even more ambitious. Founded in 2021 in Polkowice (Poland), HalfPrice is already present in 13 European countries, with more than 150 stores and is part of the fashion conglomerate CCC SA.
A new battle in retail. The rise of HalfPrice comes in parallel with strategic movements by other giants in the sector. This is the case of Sheinsymbol of fast fashion online, which has decided to make the leap to the physical world with its first permanent store in Europe, in the BHV Marais in Paris.
While Shein experiments with the physical store, HalfPrice represents the opposite path: from the traditional establishment to the digital ecosystem. Both trends point in the same direction: the convergence between online consumption and the store experience. In turn, the model off-price reflects a response to consumer fatigue in the face of excess supply and inflated prices. These types of stores “redefine perceived value,” mixing the aspirational with the everyday, luxury with the bargain.
A possible luxury? In times of inflation and skyrocketing prices, HalfPrice has become a symbol of what we could call “possible luxury”: global brands within the reach of a wide audience.
But its success also raises a question: what happens when exclusivity is no longer exclusive? In the aisles of these superstores, where a Moschino bag shares a shelf with a toaster or a toy, a new map of European consumption is drawn. A map where luxury is sought, compared and, if lucky, found with a discounted label.
Image | FreePik
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