Coin (, ) is an Italian upmarket department store chain dedicated to the worlds of apparel, home decorations, accessories and beauty. Its headquarters are located in Mestre.
History Coin was founded in 1916 in Pianiga, province of Venice, Veneto, Italy, by Vittorio Coìn, who obtained a street vendor license to sell fabrics and haberdashery items. In 1926, he opened a shop selling fabrics, yarns and linen in Mirano (Venice). Two years later a wholesale warehouse was opened in Dolo. After having strengthened the Mirano store (1931), a shop was opened (1933) and a warehouse (1937) in Mestre, followed by the store in Padua (1947).
In 1957 the Coin family opened a real multi-storey department store, the first in the chain, in Trieste, in the premises once occupied by Austrian department stores Öhler; in 1958 Coin still exceeded the regional boundaries by opening a large store in the centre of Bologna.
In 1962 it opened its flagship store in Milan at Piazza 5 Giornate.
The expansion continues touching Parma and Bergamo, up to the new large complex in Mestre in the city centre, developed on six floors with an area of nearly 20,000 m2, plus a PAM supermarket in the basement. Between 1966 and 1974 warehouses were opened in Verona, Brescia, Vicenza, Varese, Pordenone, Vigevano, Mantua, Genoa, Livorno, Udine, Piacenza, Naples, Taranto and Ferrara.
Coin was the first retailer to develop a fidelity card program in Italy in 1986.
In 2005, the French private equity firm PAI Partners acquired control of the company for €181 million. The Coin family retained a 62.9% stake, while the remainder was acquired through a takeover bid at €2.40 per share, after which the company was delisted from the stock exchange. The proceeds were used to redeem shares pledged to creditor banks, while part of the investment gave the family a 45% stake in Canaletto Investimenti, the company controlling PAI Partners. The family's objective was to regain a majority stake once the group had been restructured. Stefano Beraldo was appointed chief executive.
In 2007, the group began a restyling programme, starting with its flagship department store in Milan's Piazza Cinque Giornate, which reopened to the public on 14 March 2008. In 2009, Coin acquired the UPIM chain for €40 million, becoming Italy's largest clothing retail network through the Coin, UPIM and OVS brands, with a total of 883 stores and department stores.
After six years of ownership, in 2011, PAI Partners sold its 69.30% stake in Coin, valued at €930 million, to British private equity firm BC Partners. Stefano Beraldo remained at the head of the company, while the board of directors no longer included a member of the Coin family.
In April 2014, the first Coin Excelsior store opened in Rome on Via Cola di Rienzo, with a format slightly different from that of the Excelsior Milano chain. That same year, the company's only store in Salerno closed. In 2015, OVS was listed on the Milan Stock Exchange.
In January 2016, after 50 years of operation, the large Coin store in Piazzale Loreto in Milan closed. The store occupied 1,800 m² across five floors. In July 2018, the historic Coin store in Venice, in the Rialto area, closed.
Coin Group The Coin Group owns OVS (Oviesse) (midmarket apparel department stores) and, since January 2010, UPIM, a midmarket apparel, home and beauty department stores chain previously part of La Rinascente Group.
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