History of the first supermarkets in Peru

 

History of the first supermarkets in Peru

Posted by: Followed Point | On 05/19/2020

 

The first large stores of food products were one of the novelties of the 50's in Peru, since they brought an innovative method with which they knew how to win the preference of the public.

 

The self-service method was brought to Peru by one of the most popular supermarket chains of the time and is still used today.

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Writes: Maria Sanchez

 

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If you thought that the supermarkets that we frequent today were the ones that always led in Peru, let me tell you that the answer is no. Recounting the past, we can know that before the legacy of Metro, Wong, Tottus, Plaza Vea and Vivanda there were supermarket chains similar to these where our parents and grandparents made their weekly purchases while being dazzled by the news they brought  to our country.

The vast majority of these supermarkets disappeared due to the political situation that the country went through during the 1980s. In this note, Punto Seguido, will make you know the history of the precursors of the current stores that appeared in the capital, transforming the purchasing habits of the people of that time.

 

Supermarket

 

On March 13, 1953, the Super Market store arrived in Peru. The brothers Aldo and Orlando Olcese were the founders of this project in the field of food.

 

The main idea came to Aldo while he was studying Business Administration at the University of Texas in the mid-1940s. His intention was to bring to Peru a self-service market based on the North American model that he observed during his stay in the United States. So together with his brother Orlando, he managed to put it in Peru by opting for a new format and offering metal cars, which at that time was new for Peruvians who started buying at Super Market.

 

The first store was located on Larco Avenue, in Miraflores, and when it was opened, Peruvians began to visit it. By then, the Olcese brothers' proposal was very innovative since they gave people the freedom to choose their products for themselves and put them in the metal car.

 

Super Market managed to have 12 stores distributed in the districts of Miraflores, San Isidro, Jesús María, San Borja and Cercado de Lima, having been in the self-service market for 20 years. The business was very successful when the military power began to rule the country. Juan Velasco Alvarado expropriated the private businesses, then Super Market passed into the hands of the state administration, changing its name to Super Epsa, and in 1984, the supermarket chain disappeared.

 

Scala

 

Scala was a supermarket that was already inside Peru; however, it was not as popular because all the success went to the Super Market chain. When what was later called Super Epsa ceased to exist, consumer preference shifted to the Scala supermarket.

It was a chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets, its owners were the Mujluf, a family of Arab descent. This store opened its doors in Peru in 1958, its first store was located in the Plaza Mayor in Lima and its first store to be called Scala Gigante was located on Alfonso Ugarte Avenue.

 

By 1982, it already had 13 stores in Lima, its success was the best until the Mujluf family decided to sell the supermarket to the Brescia family, and these people went through a moment of economic crisis during the 80. By the early 1990s, Scala only had 7 of its 13 locations. In 1992, it disappeared and five of its premises underwent various transformations. In a first stage, they became Santa Isabel supermarkets and then they became what we know today as Vivanda.

 

Monterrey Supermarkets and Tia Stores

 

Tiendas Monterrey was a supermarket chain that arrived in Peru in 1954, locating its first store in Jirón de la Unión. It was one of the first to present a continuous expansion in the country and quickly reached provinces such as Cusco, La Libertad, Arequipa, Piura and Lambayeque. However, the economic crisis that the country went through and the rapid advance of terrorism forced Monterrey supermarkets to close their doors in the early 1990s.

 

Associated Industrial Stores or popularly known as Almacenes Tia, is a company of Colombian origin that arrived in Peru in 1958. Its first store was located on Schell Street, in Miraflores. This supermarket decided to expand to different places in the capital such as downtown Lima, La Victoria and Magdalena. However, the crisis that Peru went through during the 1980s caused Almacenes Tia to leave the country due to the various looting that occurred at that time.

With affection,

Ruben