Italian ‘slow food’ retailer Eataly has opened a show-stopping new store on the site of a former covered market in Munich.

Arranged over two floors, the 50,000 sq ft store is Eataly’s first European outpost north of the Alps and will be followed by a store in Paris, scheduled to open in 2018.

The new store features nine restaurants and eat-over counters, close to 10,000 Italian food, drink and homeware products and is contained within Munich’s central Schrannenhalle, a former covered market.

It is also home to a Bianchi bicycle shop, in a nod towards the fact that bike ownership per capita is higher in Munich than in any other German city.

The building’s original structure has been retained, but it has been modernised inside. The whole edifice has been encased in a glass carapace.

At present there are multiple Eataly stores in Italy while it also trades in Chicago and New York, where it will open a second store later this year. The retailer also has branches in Istanbul, Seoul, Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Dubai.