There was a time in the life of the Spaniards in which we knew almost by heart the meaning of a lot of initials such as RENFE, Talgo, Pryca and the now extinct SEPU, the first department stores in our country (even before Galerías Preciados or El Corte Inglés).
Founded in 1934, this small company that only had facilities in Barcelona (where they began their journey), Madrid and Zaragoza boasted of a curious acronym that means Spanish Society of Single Price, a true declaration of intent for a chain that in its early years suffered racist attacks, due to the Jewish origin of its owners.
Founded by Swiss entrepreneurs Henry Reisembach and Edouard Worms, SEPU boasted of being the first Spanish business to use escalators (a landmark in the 30s) and in a catchy claim of Who calculates buys in SEPU, basing its offer on low-quality textiles but with a single price aimed at a public that could not afford great luxuries and, later, also including footwear, certain types of electrical appliances and also a small supermarket, although the changes would come late.
Settled in the 1940s after surviving several xenophobic attacks (including the breaking of windows in several of its stores at the hands of Falange militants, at a time when anti-Semitic campaigns in Nazi Germany were becoming constant), SEPU knew win over a Spanish public attracted by popular prices and highly valued locations.
So much so that, although only had six centers, SEPU was found in highly sought-after locations such as Gran Vía, 32 (the space that Primark occupies today) or Las Ramblas, 120 (place occupied by the first SEPU in Barcelona).
Successfully maintained for several decades and in the hands of the heirs of Reisembach and Worms, SEPU dressed a Spain of developmentalism in the last two decades of Francoism. However, the growing competition from the 70s and 80s would begin to make a dent in their structures.
The drive of other department stores such as the now defunct Galerias Preciados and the strength of El Corte Inglés, added to the changes of tastes of the Spaniards supposed the first shovels on the tomb of SEPUan anachronistic model in terms of the shopping experience and the type of products offered.
This would lead to the first suspension of payments in 1984, also gripped by the blows of the oil crisis, and which would be consolidated in 1994 with another suspension of payments (with a debt of 2,500 million pesetas) after the very hard 1993 that raised the Spanish unemployment rates and the recession, weakening the already fragile accounts of SEPU.
Gran Vía, Madrid, 1988.
A photo that has it all.
The Sepu, the Palazzo and the Nebraska.
Our wonderful Spielberg allies.
An academy called Master -with the typography of Masters of the Universe- where they teach basic and cobol.
Y @RadioMadrid pic.twitter.com/8g5i9oPZGG– Daniel Bernabé (@diasasaigonados) May 19, 2020
An attempt to restructure the debt after that year, including insolvency proceedings and the closing of the Barcelona stores were the unsuccessful steps to get out of the technical bankruptcy of the company. However, it was not enough and in 2001 it was sold to Partridge & Company, an Australian and British holding company that came with the intention of increasing capital and refloating the company by improving logistics and the devalued SEPU brand.
However, the 570 million pesetas of this holding company were not enough to face the reality of a SEPU mortally wounded that would close its doors definitively in 2002, putting an end to almost 70 years of life in what were the first department stores in Spain
Pictures | Cover photo: Francisco Huertas Hernández / Madrid Memory Digital Library / Flickr / Twitter /
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