Spanish retailer Caprabo has celebrated its 60th anniversary with the unveiling of a photography exhibition charting the history of the group, located at its first store on Carrer de Sant Antoni Maria Claret, Barcelona.
The retailer has also placed a commemorative plaque on the front of the store, which opened its doors on 11 July 1959, the first self-service supermarket to open in Barcelona.
New Concept
Such was the novelty of the store at the time, was that customers lined up on the street to wait for shopping baskets to be distributed, Caprabo said.
Some 700 products were available in the store when it opened, with the store praised by local media as boasting a "magnificent presentation" and "advanced refrigeration facilities".
The success of the first store was such that Caprabo opened a second store in Barcelona, on Calle Mandri, five months later.
The store is still trading today, in the same space (500 square metres), however the product count has risen to 7,000 SKUs.
Today, Caprabo operates a network of 320 supermarkets. Since 2007, it has been part of the Eroski Group, which accounts for 20% of the business.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
