The founder of Zara, Amancio Ortega, opened the first Zara store in 1975. The first Zara store was located on a central street in A Coruña. Upon the success of Zara format, the firm started to expand and opened further stores.

Zara Stores has 7 basic product lines: men's clothing and women's clothing. As of 2007, each of these lines consist of 5 sub-sections. These sub-sections are Lower Garment, Upper Garment, Shoes, Cosmetics and Complements. Zara's catalogue also includes a line for children's clothing. Currently their sizing on womens clothing only goes to a US size 12 or a UK size 16. They mark this as their "extra large".

Zara was described by Louis Vuitton fashion director Daniel Piette as "possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world". Zara has also been described as an "Spanish success story" by CNN.