What Coin is known for

Italian department-store chain founded in 1916 near Venice by Vittorio Coin, who began as a licensed street vendor of fabrics; its Florence store, after closing on Via dei Calzaiuoli in 2021, reopened near Piazza della Signoria in December 2022.

Coin was founded in 1916 by Vittorio Coin, who obtained a license to sell fabrics and haberdashery as a street vendor in Pianiga, in the province of Venice. He opened a proper shop selling fabric, yarn and linen in nearby Mirano in 1926, followed two years later by a wholesale warehouse in Dolo — the beginnings of what grew into one of Italy's best-known mid-range department store chains. Coin's Florence branch has had a more recent, turbulent history. It operated for decades on Via dei Calzaiuoli, at number 56, on the site of the historic Duilio 48 department store, which it had taken over in 1990. That location closed for good in 2021 after the store's operators failed to negotiate a rent reduction during the pandemic. Coin returned to Florence in December 2022 with a newly built store near Piazza della Signoria, between Palazzo Vecchio and the Uffizi in the Loggia del Grano, following a five-month renovation reported to have cost around six million euros.