Sears in Latin America
Sears expanded into Latin America and Spain starting with a small store in Downtown Havana , Cuba in 1942. Sears opened its first store in Mexico City in 1947; the Mexican stores would later spin off into Sears Mexico , now owned by billionaire Carlos Slim 's Grupo Sanborns , which by the end of 2022 operated 97 stores across Mexico.[ 1]
Sears had sales of US$78 million in Latin America in 1953. Over time, Sears expanded into:[ 2] [ 3]
Country
First store
No. stores 1954
Presence
Employees 1954
Sold/ Closed
Remarks
Brazil
1949
3
1954: São Paulo , Rio de Janeiro , Santos
1,638
1990s
11 stores in 1993 when sold to Malzoni and Vendex , became Mappin stores or malls[ 4]
Costa Rica
n/a
n/a
n/a
1982-3[ 5]
Colombia
1953
3
1954: Barranquilla , Bogotá , Cartagena
403
Cuba
1942
6
1954: Havana , Cienfuegos , Holguín , Marianao , Santiago
511
1960
Expropriated for Castro's government,24 October 1960[ 6]
Ecuador
1999
1
Guayaquil , Albán Borja shopping center
2003[ 7]
In the 1980s, a Saga Sears operated in Ecuador
El Salvador
2010/1[ 8]
n/a
2010-2025
n/a
operating
Still in operation by Mexico's Grupo Sanborns
Guatemala
1976, 2000
n/a
n/a
n/a
1982-3[ 5]
Operated 1976–1982, and again since 2000, with 2 stores: Guatemala City , Quetzaltenango .[ 9]
Honduras
?, 2000
n/a
n/a
n/a
1982–3,[ 5] 2016
Operated ?-1982/3, and again in 2000-2016
Mexico (article )
1947
7
1954: Guadalajara , Mérida , Puebla , Mexico City –Colonia Roma , Monterrey , San Luis Potosí , Tampico End 2022: 97 across Mexico.[ 10]
2,146
operating
Operating with 97 stores as of end 2022.[ 10]
Nicaragua
1965
n/a
n/a
n/a
1979
1965–1979[ 11] [ 12]
Panama
?
n/a
n/a
n/a
2002
Operated ?-2002
Peru
1954
1
1954: Lima
1991
Became Saga hen renamed Falabella
Puerto Rico (article )
1961
n/a
operating
Operated 14 full-line department stores and various other formats over its lifespan. One full-line store remains open as of end 2023.
Spain
1967
(1970: 2)
1970–1983: Barcelona , Madrid
1983
Opened in Barcelona 30 March 1967, opened in Madrid 8 April 1970.[ 13] Closed in January 1983, became Rumasa 's Galerías Preciados .
Venezuela
1950
6
1954: Barquisimeto , Caracas (opened 1950), Maracaibo (opened 1952, 12,000 m2 , architect Tomás José Sanabria ), Maracay , Puerto La Cruz . (Later also Ciudad Ojeda ).
1,025
Eventually 3 stores in Caracas: Bello Monte (11,600 m2 , Pro-Patria, El Marqués. Acquired by Grupo Cisneros[es ]) , renamed Maxys , which closed in 1997.[ 14]
Gallery
References
^ "Acerca de Nosotros" [About Us]. Sears (in Spanish). Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2022 . Sears is currently a 100% Mexican company and has more than seventy-five stores throughout the country. It offers basic auto repair services and service contracts for the home appliances it sells.
^ "Sears to open in Peru", New York Times 22 December 1953
^ "Sears Expanding in Latin America; Bogota Store, to Open in Summer, Will Be 25th in Chain", New York Times , 8 March 1954
^ Liz Batista (21 August 2015). "Era uma vez em SP … lojas Sears" [Once upon a time in São Paulo there were … Sears stores]. Estadão (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 24 July 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2021 .
^ a b c "The Chicago-based Sears Roebuck & Co. announced Monday it will close its operations in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua for 'strictly economic causes.", UPI, November 1, 1982
^ Rioseco, Pedro (24 October 2021). "Aniversario 61 de la Nacionalización de Empresas de Estados Unidos" . Contraloría General de la República de Cuba (Controller of the Republic of Cuba) . Retrieved 23 January 2022 .
^ "Almacenes Sears se despiden del Ecuador" . El Universo . 13 February 2003. Retrieved 3 November 2019 .
^ "Tienda Sears llega a El Salvador - Market Data México" . ElSalvador.com (in Spanish). www.centralamericadata.com. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2024 .
^ "Sears Guatemala es una cadena de tiendas por departamentos especializada en ofrecer productos de alta" (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 14 January 2024 .
^ a b Echeverría, Mara (29 June 2023). "Sears, la tienda de la familia Slim que en México tomó un camino diferente al de su quiebra en EU" . Expansión (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 January 2024 .
^ "International Commerce" . 13 September 1965. Retrieved 3 November 2019 .
^ Closure of Sears in Nicaragua, 1979
^ "Gran Inauguración de Sears" . ABC . 8 April 1970. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019 .
^ "The Venezuela of Sears Roebuck", Steemit