The story
Grupo Éxito traces its origins to a Medellín, Colombia family-run textile business, founded in 1949 by Gustavo Toro Quintero. Éxito is the Spanish word for "success". In 1972, it transitioned to a hypermarket-style experience when it added supermarket products and, in 1974, began adding more locations. Six years later, a flagship store opened in Bogotá, Colombia. In 1994, at which point there were four major locations, the company went public on the Medellín and Bogotá stock exchanges; however, it did not become a leading retailer until 1998, after the company had further expanded its offerings into areas such as eye care, travel, and pharmacy services.
The beginning of the 21st century was marked by an acquisitions spree, starting with an 80% interest in Venezuelan hypermarket operator Cativen, with much of the funds raised in the late 1990s after selling 25% of the company to French group Casino (and attracted additional investment from JP Morgan). By year end 2010 Groupe Casino owned 53.89% of Almacenes Éxito (down from 67% in September).
-Merged with Cadenalco (formerly Colombia's largest retailer) in 2001.
-Became associated with textiles and apparel company Didetexco in 2009 (ownership at 97.75%)
In 2012, Éxito bought some stores of El Ahorro in Manizales (including Aranzazu) into Éxito ans Surtimax
In 2018 Éxito creates a new format of a modern-futurist hypermarket who called Éxito WOW!
In 2022 Éxito replaces the headquarters of Almacenes La 14 in Palmira, Cartago, Tuluá, Buenaventura and Jamundí, Valle del Cauca Department, as well as the headquarters of Girardot, in Cundinamarca Department.
On January 26, 2024, Casino and GPA sold their 34% stake in Exito to the Salvadoran group Grupo Calleja for 400 million euros.
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Acquisitions spree in Uruguay and Argentina
In the summer of 2011, Almacenes Éxito acquired the Devoto and Disco chains in Uruguay, for US $746 million, as part of its expansion plan in Latin America.
In July 2015, it completed the takeover of 100% of the Argentine chain Hipermercados Libertad and 50% of the Brazilian group Pão de Açúcar.
Envigado shopping center
On October 5, 2018, Grupo Éxito opened the Viva Envigado shopping center, which with 260,000 m² is the second largest shopping center in Colombia after Centro Mayor (Bogotá), Calima (Bogotá), Mayorca Mega Plaza (Sabaneta), Plaza Central (Bogotá) and Santafé (Bogotá)
Venezuela
Cativen (acronym for Cadena de Tiendas Venezolanas SA) is a Venezuelan supermarket chain founded on March 23, 1995. It became affiliated with Grupo Exito in 2004 when Groupe Casino acquired 80% of Cativen's shares. At the time Almacenes Exito was also operating a number of its own stores in the country.
In early 2010, the Government of Venezuela expropriated several Éxito supermarkets citing price gauging, hoarding of supplies, and breaching the Law for the Defence of Persons in Access to Goods and Services. Subsequently, it bought the shares of the French group Casino, which owned 61.7% of Cativen's shares, and nationalized the remaining six Éxito supermarkets in the country. The Venezuelan government changed the name of the acquired Cativan supermarkets to Bicentennial Supplies.
From Wikipedia’s article on Grupo Éxito, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4