El Corte Inglés is one of the most popular stores in our country. Thousands of Spaniards usually visit it daily, but how many of us have wondered where the name El Corte Inglés comes from? Where are you from? Like Mercadona, Amazon or Zara, the name of El Corte Inglés has a very peculiar origin. Do you want to know it? Well, we will explain it to you below.
A tailor shop, the origin of the name of El Corte Inglés
El Corte Inglés took its name from a small tailor shop that was founded in 1890 and that was located between Preciados , Carmen and Rompelanzas streets, in the center of Madrid.
In 1935, Ramón Areces Rodríguez decided to buy the small tailor shop, always backed by his uncle César Rodríguez , to start his business adventure. A few years later, in 1939, they decided to buy a place at Calle Preciados, number 3. They used the ground floors, the first and also part of the second, for sales.
As early as 1940, when the small company had seven employees, Ramón Areces decided to establish the El Corte Inglés company , with César Rodríguez, his uncle, as partner and president.
The first total renovation of the building was carried out between 1945 and 1946, with the sales part occupying most of the surface, a total of 2,000 square meters that were distributed over five floors. In this way the sale by departments arose that we continue to find today.
Between 1953 and 1955 they decided to incorporate the adjoining building into the company, that is, number 5 on Preciados street. They had planned to modernize the sale and implement a new business model that Rodríguez learned in Cuba.
Rodríguez’s Cuban inspiration
César Rodríguez , after emigrating to Cuba, got a job as a messenger for textiles in a store called La Casa Blanca , owned by other Asturians who emigrated at the time. In 1900, the owner of Almacenes Caso y Compañía , seeing his disposition, decided to give him a job as a clerk. After this time he was hired at Almacenes El Encanto .
Here, in this last position, in 1906, he rose to the position of manager thanks to his business acumen. From this position he hired some of his relatives, such as Ramón Areces , his nephew, who arrived in Cuba in 1920. Both traveled often to New York and continued to learn more about the business idea. When they returned to Spain a few years later, those business ideas sprouted from their heads.
The expansion of El Corte Inglés
Despite the fact that the 60s were key for El Corte Inglés , since there was a great expansion, the great movement of the company would arrive in 1995, when El Corte Inglés became the new owner of Galerías Preciados.
According to the chronicles of the time, it is said that he paid 30,000 million pesetas for the company’s operating assets, and promised to relocate 5,200 of the current 6,900 employees (6,450 permanent and the rest temporary). In addition, it paid 2,000 million more for the existing merchandise in the 30 Galleries centers it acquired. A 20-year crisis was closing in at the extinct Galerías Preciados.
Currently, El Corte Inglés has 87 large shopping centers throughout Spain ; 38 Hipercor, 59 Bricor, 187 Supercor, 786 El Corte Inglés Travel Agencies, 514 Sfera, 126 Insurance Centers, and 25 El Corte Inglés Insurance Centers.
Without a doubt, a show of business power and business vision on the part of Ramón y César.
