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Diari de Catalunya

Barcelona, Beyond El Corte Inglés: The History of Pioneering Department Stores

The Catalan capital was the birthplace of department stores with their own identity since the late 19th century, long before the arrival of current major chains.

Generic image of a late 19th-century department store with luxurious interiors.
IA

Generic image of a late 19th-century department store with luxurious interiors.

The city of Barcelona is preparing for a new shopping season with Sunday store openings, while recalling the rich history of its pioneering department stores that marked an era since the late 19th century.

From May 15 to September 15, tourist areas in Barcelona will allow voluntary Sunday store openings, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. This measure includes most large retail surfaces, with the exception of Westfield La Maquinista and SOM Multiespai, which are outside the designated areas.
However, the city's commercial history goes far beyond current chains. In the late 19th century, Barcelona was the scene of a true revolution with the emergence of several department stores, each with its own identity, long before El Corte Inglés established itself in the Catalan capital in the sixties.
The first of these large establishments, not only in Barcelona but throughout Spain, was Almacenes El Siglo, inaugurated in 1881 at numbers 3-5-7 of La Rambla. Its opening was an unprecedented event, offering a luxurious interior with noble woods, inspired by the prestigious Harrods of London or Le Bon Marché of Paris.
This imposing building of seven floors and 150,000 m² employed a thousand people, in addition to 600 workers in external workshops producing exclusive items for the brand. El Siglo also stood out for its home delivery service, an innovation for the time.
The history of El Siglo ended tragically on Christmas Day in 1932, when an accidental fire completely destroyed the property. Fortunately, there were no fatalities, as the department store was closed. The cause was a miniature train in a display window that overheated and caused the fire.
Despite the disappearance of El Siglo, other commercial references continued to operate in the city, such as Almacenes El Barato, SEPU, Almacenes Vilardell, Almacenes El Águila, the Avenida de la Luz gallery, Almacenes Capitol, Magatzems Jorba, Sears, and Galerías Preciados. In fact, the former El Corte Inglés building in Portal de l'Àngel, which previously housed Jorba and Galerías Preciados, now hosts the international chains TK Maxx and Uniqlo, occupying over 6,400 square meters in one of Europe's busiest commercial arteries.

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