Asturian-American Migration Forum

Ramón Areces – Founder of El Corte Inglés

Ramón Areces was born in the village of La Mata (Grado) and emigrated to Cuba at the age of 15, where he worked as an apprentice in a department store managed by his uncle César. Four years later he was already traveling through the USA and Canada, learning English and improving his commercial skills.
He returned to Spain in 1934 to get married. He settled in Madrid and in 1935 he bought a small tailor shop in Preciados Street, the name of which was El Corte Inglés (the English Cut). That was the beginning, the rest is history. El Corte Inglés today has one of the world largest Department Store chains, with an annual turnover of over 14 billion Euros.
Upon his death in 1989 Ramón Areces left all his properties to his nephew Isidoro Alvarez and to the Fundación Ramón Areces, which grants students magnificent scholarships for foreign universities, including the very expensive Harvard University.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ramón Areces nació en La Mata (concejo de Grado) y emigró a Cuba a los 15 años, donde trabajó como aprendiz en unos almacenes que dirigía su tío César. Cuatro años más tarde ya viajaba por Estados Unidos y Canada para aprender inglés y mejorar sus conocimientos comerciales.
Regresó a España en 1934 para casarse. Se instaló en Madrid y en 1935 compró una pequeña sastrería en la calle Preciados que se llamaba El Corte Inglés. Esto fue el principio, el resto es historia. El Corte Inglés es hoy una de las empresas de grandes almacenes más grandes del mundo, con una ventas anuales de 14.000 millones de Euros.
A su muerte en 1989 Ramón Areces dejó su patrimonio a su sobrino Isidoro Alvarez y a la Fundación Ramón Areces, que concede becas de estudio para universidades extranjeras, inclusive la muy costosa Universidad de Harvard.

Terechu

Terechu,

Do you know if anybody has a family tree of Ramon Areces?. I believe he might be related to me. My GGGrandfather, Luis Areces Gonzalez, emigrated to Cuba from Llamero, Candamo. His grandparents were Areces and Alvarez. Oral history in my family tells me that Luis traveled to Cuba with a cousin or possibly a nephew. That cousin or nephew went to live in a different province and was never heard from again.

Sincerely
Andres Echazabal

Andrese, I have no idea about Ramón Areces's family tree, but will try to find out, the city of Grado might have published something. I'm not sure you would want to be related to him though

I want to point out one thing, I deeply distrust all of El Corte Inglés's activities and dealings, which nobody ever hears about until the deal is struck and the results are final. They just reported a 58% increase in their annual turnover for 2004. They bought up the French food-store chain "Champion" out of the blue and in less than ten days all Champion stores were "Supercor" stores. They are now planning to get into the Gas supply business.
They are so powerful, they're like a parallel government, employing over 150.000 people. They buy and sell wills and influences and keep getting richer and growing more powerful every day. It makes me shudder.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Andrese no tengo ni idea del árbol genealógico de Ramón Areces, pero intentaré enterarme, quizás el ayuntamiento de Grado tenga algo publicado. De todos modos, no estoy muy segura de que quieras ser pariente de él .

Quisiera mencionar que desconfío profundamente de todas las actividades y movidas de El Corte Inglés de los que no se oye nada hasta que el trato está cerrado y el resultado es definitivo. Acaban de dar los resultados del 2004 y tuvieron unas ganancias un 58% superiores al año anterior. Compraron de repente la cadena francesa Champion y en menos de 10 días todas las tiendas Champion se convirtieron en "Supercor". Ahora van a entrar en la distribución de gas. Tienen tanto poder que son como un gobierno paralelo, con más de 150.000 empleados. Compran y venden voluntades e influencias y cada vez son más ricos y poderosos. Me ponen los pelos de punta.

They are so powerful, they're like a parallel government, employing over 150.000 people. They buy and sell wills and influences and keep getting richer and growing more powerful every day. It makes me shudder.

Just like WalMart

andrese, can you please post more information on your relative areces. I am an areces, and my grandfather would tell us that Ramon was related. In fact, when Ramon traveled to Cuba, he stayed with my grandfather or the family for some time. I also heard that Ramon traveled to Cuba with Atanacio Areces who was also a cousin of my grandfather. FYI there is a facebook page just for Areces and some info on Ramon that might be helpful for you. Thanks