ABSTRACT
The introduction of modern retail methods in Spanish department stores began in the late nineteenth century, following the model of Au Bon Marché in Paris, and was concentrated in the big cities, especially Madrid and Barcelona. This chapter reconstructs the process of the arrival of a department store model in Spain through the "Cuban route", which surpassed the embryonic establishments existing before the civil war that had corresponded to the proto-department store model. Although the first Spanish department stores bore names that implied links with stores in London (New England) or Paris (Madrid-París), the modern commercial model imported into Spain came, rather curiously, from Cuba. The department stores of the Franco period, Galerias Preciados and its rival El Corte Ingles, focused on attracting a middle- and upper-class clientele. Feduchi began his work in Galerías Preciados with internal modifications to some of the existing buildings, and was also responsible for most of the architectural projects for new branches.
