Zara has completely altered daily life for this sleepy Spanish town. Here's what residents think about it.

• Zara's headquarters are located in Arteixo, a small town on the northwest coast of Spain.
• More than 5,000 employees across various departments including design, photography, sales, and e-commerce work here. The site is also home to Zara's largest distribution center, which is responsible for shipping the retailer's clothing to 96 different countries around the world.
• The presence of these sprawling headquarters has had a profound impact on the nearby city of La Coruña, where many of Zara's employees choose to live. 

Zara may have grown up, but it never really left home. 

The clothing chain has been based in Galicia, on the northwest coast of Spain, since 1975. But what started out as just one store has grown into an enormous, multi-national business that is considered to be the largest fashion retailer on the planet, turning out over $30 billion in sales a year.

Despite this, Zara has always stayed true to its roots, and its billionaire founder, Amancio Ortega, has continued to expand its global headquarters in Galicia to accommodate its growth.

To do so, the company has brought in thousands of employees from different parts of the world to work on its design, photography, sales, and e-commerce strategy. This has had a dramatic impact on the culture of the nearby city of La Coruña, where many of these employees choose to live.

The locals call it the "Impacto Inditex," and it's felt in all areas of the city. Whether it be the fashionistas that roam the streets, dipping in and out of its trendy stores, cafes, and bars, or the disgruntled residents who say they face rising living costs, it's clear that Inditex is having a profound impact on life in La Coruña, for better or worse. 

We visited the city in August to see how much it has changed with the rise of Zara:

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Amancio Ortega opened the first Zara store in La Coruña in 1975. He originally named his store Zorba after the 1964 film "Zorba the Greek," but changed it after he discovered a nearby bar had the same name. Ortega reshuffled the letters to come up with Zara.

The first store still exists in La Coruña today, but there is very little distinguishing it from Zara stores you might find anywhere in the world. 

Ortega opened Zara's headquarters in the nearby town of Arteixo in 1977. This is still its home today.

Arteixo, a small town with a population of about 30,000, is a roughly 20-minute drive from La Coruña, or A Coruña, as it's known in Galician. 

Over the course of two decades, the brand expanded dramatically, opening stores across Spain and in different countries around the world. In 1985, Ortega incorporated the chain into a holding company called Inditex.