-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See some history below in English (online translated) and Spanish below:

Galerías Preciados, S.A. was a Spanish chain of  department stores in 1943 by José "Pepín" Fernández Rodríguez. Named after the street on which it stood, Galerías Preciados was, along with El Corte Inglés, one of the economic motors of the retail industry in post-war Spain.

In 1995, the company went into receivership and was subsequently adjudicated to its main rival.^[1]

 Galerías Preciados SA traducción online)

Empresa comercial, el origen de la que proviene de las antiguas Sederías Carretas, fundadas en 1934 en Madrid por J. Fernández.

En 1950 la empresa familiar inició su expansión hacia la actividad de los grandes almacenes y en 1955 se transformó en sociedad anónima. En 1963 adquirió los almacenes barceloneses Jorba, pero la crisis de los años setenta la afectó profundamente hasta el punto de ocasionar la pérdida del control familiar, que pasó al Banco Urquijo. En 1981 fue vendida al grupo RUMASA, el cual inició un proceso de reconversión que continuó con la compra de los almacenes Marcol (de Valencia) y Sears Roebuck de España SA. Con la expropiación de Rumasa en 1983, la sociedad quedó en las manos del Patrimonio del Estado, el cual la vendió al grupo venezolano Cisneros. Sometida a una grave crisis, en 1995 la cadena fue adquirida por El Corte Inglés SA.

colaboración:

Are / FCA

 Galerias Preciados SA (online translated)

Trading company, the origin of which comes from the old sederías Carretass, founded in Madrid in 1934 by J. Fernandez.

In 1950 the family company started its expansion towards the activities of department stores in 1955 and became a public limited company. In 1963 acquired stores Jorba Barcelona, ​​but the crisis of the seventies affected deeply to the point of causing the loss of family control, which became the Bank Urquijo. In 1981 it was sold to the group Rumasa, which began a restructuring process that continued with the purchase of the stores Marcol (Valencia) and Sears Roebuck de España SA. With the expropriation of Rumasa 1983, the company remained in the hands of the Patrimonio del Estado, which sold the Venezuelan group Cisneros. Subjected to a serious crisis in 1995 the chain was acquired by El Corte Inglés SA.

collaboration:

Are / FCA

History (online translated).
The chain took its name from the street price of Madrid, where he sits the first center of the chain, this being an extension of the "house mother" silk Carretas, founded by Pepin Fernandez on his return from Cuba in 1934, following Warehouses style El Encanto de La Habana. Later more schools opened other cities in Spain, and in 1968 opened the first department store in Spain, at Madrid's Plaza de Callao. [1]

After an aggressive growth plan, the company borrowed and spent in 1979 at the hands of one of its creditors, Banco Urquijo. In 1981 Galleries Preciados Rumasa was part of that was done with the block of shares of the principal owner, [2] and controlled the company until its expropriation in 1983. [3] A year later he was privatized Venezuelan Cisneros group, which The won by about 1,000 million pesetas. In 1987, Cisneros sold the company to another group, the British Mountleigh, materializing large gains in the operation to more than 40,000 million pesetas. The group Mountleigh Peter Carr put forward, and renewed both the stores and the corporate image of the company. However, gallery owners went through a difficult internal situation affected the company. [4]

After entering into the red, Mountleigh sold the chain in 1992 to a group of Spanish investors, entrepreneurs led by Justo Lopez Tello and Fernando Sada, of 21,200 million pesetas. [5] The company does not traced their status and current liabilities period increased by 62% in less than a year, [6] as the company had to declare bankruptcy two years later, with a debt of 28,000 million [7].

In 1995, made the absorption of Galleries from"El Corte Inglés", who remodeled and maintained the 22 stores it acquired the company then absorbed. [8] The original building that housed Galleries, located on the street price of Madrid, offers from 1993 mall culture of the French Fnac. [9] Although the wage guarantee fund put up for auction in 2008 the trade name for 300,000 euros, the contest was deserted. [10]

Pepín Fernández

The biography of Pepin Fernandez, businessman Spaniard who founded the department stores Galeries Preciados is that of a fighter who managed to successfully overcome the social, political and economic post-war to create the first large modern establishment in the history of Spain. Is that of a man, loving family, who made himself who opened his career at an early post as "gunner" (small for all) in an establishment in Mexico. From here to Havana and a meteoric career, thanks to its huge capacity for business. With 39 years returned to Spain and up, from a shop, a great empire. His eagerness to carry on their shoulders the whole weight of his exalted business, but also led to the fall of Galleries price because the company was too centralized with little delegation of functions.

Pepin Fernandez (Grado, 1891) met in his home trade, since their parents (Manuel Fernandez "the El Rellán" and Maria Rodriguez), open to the public had a small shop. In 1908, with 16 years and despite the reservations of his parents who had lost a son in America, Pepin Fernandez sailed to Mexico with a hundred pesetas in the bag. After two years in this country, during which he worked in a shop owned by another Spaniard, sailed to Cuba, where his brother Eustace. Pepin Fernandez entrepreneurs forged in warehouses El Encanto de Cuba, which also formed Cesar Rodriguez and Ramon Areces, founder of the English Court, the company that would eventually acquire the rule of Fernandez. The three were employed in the establishment of Havana when they reached the city. And history is also El Encanto Asturias. Originally a small store founded in 1888 the Asturian and Bernardo José Solís. A few months later hired as a clerk to another Spaniard, Entrialgo Aquilino, who finally launched the ambitious project of opening a shop on a busy corner of Havana, known as "sin" because, they said, walked there the most beautiful women in the locality. A few years later, El Encanto was one of the most prestigious stores in the world. After his arrival in Havana and once worked at El Encanto, Pepin Fernandez displayed a tremendous capacity for learning and spent a few months of "gunboat" dependent. In 1912 he had been transferred to offices, which brought order into the accounts of the company. Despite the modern character of the warehouses Cuban outdated practices still existed. It was Fernandez who vehemently defended the establishment of a fixed-price products, preventing the bargaining. The employer also renew Spaniard managed advertising, making it more direct, persuasive and simple. With a consolidated professional situation in El Encanto, and more free time to achieve, married on April 17, 1920 to a Cuban, five years younger than him: Carmela Menendez. "Interestingly, Cuba was ahead in the trade that Spain, especially by the proximity to the United States", for whom Cuba was part of a triangle between Spain and the United States and acts as a transmission belt of a model of trade in our country starts in the forties and has more features than European American. " In 1931, Pepin Fernandez moved to Spain with his wife and three children. Three years later, together with Cesar Rodriguez and several dependent Madrid Carretas silk sheath. Against the many who claimed that in the thirties Madrid would fail a fabric store, Pepin Fernandez applied to the spirit forged its place in El Encanto. A careful advertising strategy, attractive and direct that he was writing, as well as breaking with outdated features of the original Spanish trade then appealed to the public. The restaurant was expanded and not closed during the civil war. After the race war, the Spaniard was aware that to succeed it was necessary to come to power. While urging the maxim that "the customer is always right" and demanded the greatest care of its employees to the buyers, the store grew to occupy an entire building. In 1935, the streets became Price, Carmen and Shatterspear a large plot for the first Preciados Galleries. In the corner was tailoring the English Court, which, according to the author, was ceded by Pepin Fernandez Ramon Areces for the burst until its demolition, which was delayed because of the war.

Fernandez Areces distinguished family of enterprise-level Galleries Preciados The first opened in 1943. Despite the economic constraints in Spain, the settlement grew, backing the idea that more than a shop it was a social center. He drove the day of the mother and continued to attract customers. "Then these big stores are like Europeans, with many products, fixed price, with escalators and good customer service." But if something was meant Galleries Preciados have raised the banner of "renewed or die" for other traders. "They had to put the batteries. On the other stores. supply the demand generated. Instead, these stores offer made that generate demand. " Both Pepin Fernandez wanted to convey to its customers as a service shop idea that he even put an ad in the newspaper warning that a customer had paid too much and pass to collect the money. With difficulty, Galleries Preciados get over the rough forties. By working, Fernandez gets engage with senior officials of the regime. in many cases by their wives, regular customers of the store. Then grows, competition with the English Court of Ramón Areces, which opened a store opposite his own. "But while Pepin Fernandez opens new borrowing facilities, Ramón Areces rarely ask for money." From the fifty growing competition between the companies and then the English Court ends up eating ground. In addition, while maintaining the imprint Fernandez family in the business and fails to evolve, making everything go through his hands, Areces, who had more money, learned to rely more on professionals. But while relations between the two companies ended up being an open war, but always differentiated the familiar look of the professional. Fernandez Areces were always the one to the other when needed, the decline of Galleries price coincides with the physical deterioration of the employer. The future of both epresas goes through a business transformation bipolar department stores in Spain to the monopoly of the English Court, and after the death of Pepin Fernandez and once the company went through successive sales and control away from family.

If history is inseparable Preciados Galleries of Pepin Fernandez, so is the chain that was its main competitor, the "El Corte Inglés", who also founded the Spaniard Ramón Areces, who had ties of kinship with Fernandez. Both businesses, together with Cesar Rodriguez, intertwined throughout their lives and loving relationships strong, despite competition among businesses. Pepin Fernandez and César Rodríguez were cousins, Ramon Areces was the nephew of the latter. All of them were born in the vicinity of La Mata (Grado). The biography of these three Asturian opens like many of his generation: that of male, adolescent, rural home and family embarked for America to seek his fortune across the Atlantic. Grade and Grade school council came a great number of immigrants who longed "to the Americas." In addition, the capital was one of the largest commercial sites in the area, where items were purchased mainly agricultural and livestock, for much of the outline. The fairs were all a focus of attraction at the turn of the century Asturias. Thus, the founders of Gallery Prices and English Court were forged in the commercial spirit. In addition, Pepin Fernandez always remembered his travels infant Oviedo, a gateway to the world that opened the eyes of a boy who dreamed of "catch the Basque Railway, to travel the world." 
  

Historia

La cadena tomó su nombre de la calle Preciados de Madrid, donde estaba ubicado el primer centro de la cadena, siendo este una ampliación de la "casa madre" Sederías Carretas, fundada por Pepín Fernández a su regreso de Cuba en el año 1934, siguiendo el estilo de los Almacenes El Encanto de La Habana. Posteriormente abrió más centros otras ciudades de España, y en 1968 inaugura el primer gran almacén de España, en la madrileña plaza de Callao.[1]

Tras un agresivo plan de crecimiento, la empresa se endeudó y pasó en 1979 a manos de uno de sus acreedores, el Banco Urquijo. En 1981 Galerías Preciados formó parte de Rumasa, que se hizo con el paquete de acciones del principal propietario,[2] y controló la compañía hasta su expropiación forzosa en 1983.[3] Un año después fue privatizada al grupo venezolano Cisneros, que se la adjudicó por cerca de 1.000 millones de pesetas. En 1987, Cisneros vendió la empresa a otro grupo, el británico [4]

Tras entrar en números rojos, Mountleigh vendió la cadena en 1992 a un grupo de inversores español, liderado por los empresarios [5] La compañía no remontó su situación y las deudas a corto plazo aumentaron un 62% en menos de un año,[6] por lo que la empresa tuvo que declararse en suspensión de pagos dos años después, con una deuda de 28.000 millones.[7]

En 1995 se efectuó la absorción de Galerías por parte de El Corte Inglés, quien remodeló y mantuvo los 22 establecimientos que adquirió entonces a la empresa absorbida.[8] El edificio original que albergó Galerías, situado en la calle Preciados de Madrid, alberga desde 1993 un centro comercial cultural de la cadena francesa Fnac.[9] Aunque el Fondo de Garantía Salarial puso a subasta en 2008 la denominación comercial por 300.000 euros, el concurso quedó desierto.

D. Pepín Fernandez

Al frente de ambas tiendas se situaron como directores-gerentes Pepín Fernández, dueño de Sederías, y Ramón Areces, encargado y, años después, accionista de El Corte Inglés. Areces, sobrino del accionista hegemónico de El Corte Inglés, César Rodríguez -con negocios en España y Cuba, donde residía la mayor parte del año-, se desplazó desde Asturias a principios de 1936 para gerenciar la tienda. Areces y Pepín Fernández protagonizaron desde entonces una dura competencia comercial que en 1946 obligó a deslindar ambos negocios, con la venta por César Rodríguez de su participación en Sederías Carretas.

Desde entonces la ruptura fue total y sólo en los últimos meses de vida de César Rodríguez se produjo un emocionado reencuentro de los dos primos, en el que rememoraron, tras veinte años de distanciamiento, cuánto habían bregado juntos en los grandes almacenes habaneros El Encanto, a los que habían llegado siendo adolescentes y donde habían forjado sus prósperos patrimonios. Pese a aquella reconciliación casi en el lecho de muerte de César Rodríguez, la tensión y competencia entre los negocios persistió y no hubo la menor tregua en medio siglo.

La rivalidad fue enorme y jamás miembro alguno de cada una de ambas ramas de esta dinastía de indianos entró en el negocio rival, aunque una y otra casa infiltrasen espías en la organización ajena. En Galerías la prohibición de comprar en El Corte Inglés era absoluta y lo mismo a la inversa. Y esta prohibición alcanzaba a los accionistas, a sus descendientes, a los trabajadores y aun a los familiares de los empleados.

El primer miembro de la dinastía que entró en una tienda del rival fue Isidoro Álvarez, el tercer presidente de El Corte Inglés, sobrino de Areces y sobrino-nieto de César Rodríguez.

La primera vez que Álvarez cruzó el umbral de un gran almacén de Galerías Preciados ocurrió el 24 de noviembre de 1995. El año próximo hará de ello 20 años.

Álvarez era presidente de El Corte Inglés desde hacía seis años y tres meses cuando puso sus pies en Galerías. Hacía 50 años de la última vez que alguno de sus antecesores hubiera hecho algo similar. Fue cuando César Rodríguez, durante uno de sus viajes a España como presidente y accionista mayoritario de El Corte Inglés, visitó al presidente de Sederías Carretas en 1945 en su doble condición de primo y también de socio minoritario de la sociedad fundada por Pepín.

Cuando Isidoro Álvarez entró en 1995 en Galerías Preciados hacía unas horas que El Corte Inglés acababa de comprar las 30 tiendas de su rival.

Se ponía fin así a 60 años de enconada rivalidad y de una lucha sin cuartel. Galerías Preciados había sido el pionero, el líder durante decenios en volumen, facturación y número de tiendas, el primero en extenderse fuera de Madrid por otras provincias españolas, el introductor de las modernas campañas de las rebajas y de los días de la Madre, del Padre y de los Enamorados, y el primero en las promociones de productos internacionales.

Pero la tenacidad de Ramón Areces, su empeño por engrandecer El Corte Inglés y la vuelta definitiva a España de César Rodríguez en 1960 con buena parte de su copiosa fortuna personal (muy superior a la de Pepín) cambiaron el rumbo de la historia. Si en 1960 Galerías Preciados acumulaba tres tiendas en Madrid y ya se había expansionado por buena parte del sur de España con establecimientos de reducidas dimensiones, El Corte Inglés continuaba con una única tienda -varias veces ampliada- en la cal....

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------