The story
The Beginnings of La Soriana
Soriana traces its origins to 1905, when Pascual Borque, a native of Soria, Spain, established a fabric and perfumery business in Torreón, Coahuila, under the name La Soriana. In 1920, the company incorporated wholesale merchandise into its operations, becoming a prominent reference point for trade and consumption in Torreón.
In 1930, brothers Armando and Francisco Martín Borque assumed management of the business and expanded operations into municipalities across Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora. In subsequent years, La Soriana shifted its focus from wholesale to retail.
Beginnings as a supermarket
In 1968, La Soriana discontinued its textiles and perfumery operations and transitioned to the supermarket model. That year, the company opened its first hypermarket, then described as a commercial center, in downtown Torreón, Coahuila. This marked the formal beginning of Organización Soriana and the start of its territorial expansion.
Soriana began its geographic expansion in 1974 with the opening of its first hypermarket in Monterrey, Nuevo León, known as Soriana Vallarta. This was the company's first store in both the city and the state. In the same year, Soriana opened additional branches in Durango and Chihuahua, consolidating its presence in northern Mexico and establishing itself as a regional supermarket chain. On October 30, 1975, Soriana opened its first shopping center in downtown Gómez Palacio, Durango, becoming the first national supermarket chain to operate in that city.
The 1980s
During the 1980s, Soriana continued its expansion in northern Mexico. In 1984, it opened its first store in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and another branch in Torreón, Coahuila, known as Soriana Constitución. Two years later, in 1986, the company opened a store in Reynosa, Tamaulipas (Soriana Hidalgo). On September 30, 1987, Soriana began trading on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol SORIANA.
Toward the end of the decade, differences arose between the Martín Borque brothers, leading to a business split. Francisco Martín Borque continued operating Soriana under the name Tiendas de Descuento del Nazas (Sorimex), while Armando Martín Borque established a new venture in Monterrey, Nuevo León. There, he created the Hipermart chain, formally named Sultana Discount Stores (Organización Soriana). In 1989, the first Hipermart stores opened in Monterrey (Cumbres and San Pedro), Ciudad Juárez (San Lorenzo), and Torreón (Independencia).
As part of Sorimex, Soriana also expanded into western Mexico. In 1988, it opened its first store in Aguascalientes, known as Soriana Aguascalientes Universidad. The following year, the company inaugurated its first store in Zacatecas (Soriana Zacatecas).
The 1990s
In 1990, Soriana opened its first store on the Mexican Pacific coast in Baja California, with the Soriana Tijuana Plaza Carrousel branch. However, following an agreement with Casa Ley, the store was closed four years later and subsequently replaced by a Comercial Mexicana location. Soriana later reacquired this property in 2015 and reopened it under its original name in 2017 after the conversion of Comercial Mexicana stores into Soriana Híper.
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In 1994, the Martín Borque brothers reunited and merged their commercial chains (Soriana and Hipermart), forming Centros Comerciales Soriana, which later became Tiendas Soriana. That same year, Soriana expanded into the state of Jalisco with two stores in the Guadalajara metropolitan area: Soriana Bugambilias in Zapopan (originally operating under the pseudonym Hiperama until its rebranding as Soriana Híper in 2016) and Soriana Río Nilo in Guadalajara. The company also entered Guanajuato with stores in León (Soriana Malecón) and Irapuato (Soriana Jacarandas).
In 1995, Soriana continued its expansion with the opening of its first store in Tampico, Tamaulipas (Soriana Ejército). In 1997, it entered Querétaro with the Soriana Quintana branch, marking the company's presence in central Mexico. From 1998 onward, Soriana expanded further with stores in San Luis Potosí (Soriana El Paseo), Veracruz (Soriana Coatzacoalcos El Palmar), and Tlaxcala (Soriana Tlaxcala). On May 1, 1998, Soriana inaugurated its first store in Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas, with an investment of 350 million pesos. In December 1998, Francisco Martín Borque, founder and key promoter of the company, passed away.
In 1999, Soriana expanded into additional regions, opening stores in Michoacán (Soriana Uruapan), Colima (Soriana Plaza Colima), Hidalgo (Soriana Plaza del Valle Pachuca), Puebla (Soriana Torrecillas), Tabasco (Soriana Villahermosa Guayabal—the company's first store in southeastern Mexico), and Sinaloa (Soriana Culiacán Zapata), marking its return to the Pacific market following the dissolution of its non-compete agreement with Casa Ley.
Opening of store no. 100 and expansion into new states
In December 2000, Soriana entered the state of Nayarit for the first time with the opening of its 100th branch in the city of Tepic (Soriana Cigarrera). With this, it became the fourth self-service retail chain in Mexico to operate 100 stores under the same commercial name, following Cifra-Walmart, Tiendas Gigante, and Comercial Mexicana.
Between 2001 and 2003, Soriana expanded into the southeast of Mexico, opening its first stores in Oaxaca (2001), Yucatán and Chiapas (2002), and Campeche and Quintana Roo (2003). In 2002, the company also entered La Paz, Baja California Sur. In 2004, Fundación Soriana, A.C. was established to strengthen and formalize corporate social responsibility programs.
Creation of new store formats: City Club, Mercado Soriana, and Súper City
On 17 July 2002, Soriana launched the price-club format City Club, in Torreón, Coahuila. This model targeted both families with high consumption and businesses by offering wholesale and semi-wholesale merchandise. That same year, Soriana introduced its loyalty card, La Tarjeta del Aprecio (renamed Tarjeta Recompensas in 2015 and Tarjeta Recompensas Payback in 2018), which allowed customers to accumulate points to redeem for discounts, free products, or exclusive items.
In July 2003, Soriana created the Mercado Soriana format, opening its first branch in Salamanca, Guanajuato. This model consisted of medium-sized supermarkets with sales areas of 3,500 to 5,000 m2, offering around 25,000 products at competitive prices. It was designed for towns of 50,000 to 150,000 inhabitants and popular urban areas where a Soriana Híper could not be established. During 2003, additional Mercado Soriana stores were opened in Navojoa and Guaymas (Sonora) and Puebla (Soriana Mercado Puebla Bosques). From then on, Soriana included smaller cities and popular neighborhoods of large metropolitan areas in its expansion strategy through the Mercado Soriana format, while continuing to grow with its hypermarkets and City Club stores.
In 2005, Soriana entered the convenience store sector with the creation of the Súper City format. Designed to compete with Oxxo and 7-Eleven, these stores operated under a franchise system. That same year, Carrefour withdrew from Mexico. While most of its stores in central, western, southern, and southeastern Mexico were acquired by Chedraui and one Monterrey branch by Walmart, Soriana purchased three Carrefour stores: in Saltillo, Coahuila (Echeverría), Chihuahua (Saucito and Ciudad Juárez Alameda Iglesias), and Hermosillo, Sonora (Bachoco). This marked Soriana's second acquisition of supermarket branches.
Expansion in central Mexico; return to Baja California Norte
In 2005, Soriana opened its first store in the metropolitan area of the Valley of Mexico: Mercado Soriana Ciudad Azteca in Ecatepec, Estado de México. This marked a significant step in the company's expansion into central Mexico.
On 13 May 2006, Soriana opened two new stores in Gómez Palacio, Durango, one under the Soriana brand and another as City Club, both located in the Plaza Centenario shopping complex. In April of that year, Soriana also inaugurated its 200th store in Ciudad Frontera, Coahuila.
In 2006, the company tested a new supermarket format with the opening of Soriana Súper Playa de Oro in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco (closed in May 2020). The format was designed to provide a quicker shopping experience focused on daily-consumption products. That year, Soriana also returned to Baja California Norte after a 12-year absence, opening branches in Mexicali (Calafia) and Tijuana (Otay). It additionally opened its first hypermarkets in the Estado de México, including Ixtapaluca, Cofradías (in the Mexico City metropolitan area), and Plaza Sendero Toluca (in the Toluca metropolitan area).
In 2007, Soriana expanded further, opening its first store in Mexico City (Mercado Soriana Ermita) and its first store in the state of Guerrero (Mercado Soriana Iguala), marking its entry into the Guerrero market.
Third supermarket acquisition: Supermercados Gigante; creation of the Soriana Súper format; expansion into new cities and transition to a national supermarket chain
On December 6, 2007, Soriana acquired 199 Supermercados Gigante stores from Grupo Gigante for US$1.35 billion. The transaction included stores operating under the formats Gigante, Bodega Gigante, Súper Gigante, Súper G, and Súper Maz in Mexico, as well as seven Gigante USA branches in the United States (later sold to Chedraui and converted into its El Súper format). This acquisition strengthened Soriana's national presence and allowed the company to formally expand into the Mexico City market.
As part of the transition, from December 7, 2007, until April 17, 2008, Gigante operated as a subsidiary of Soriana. At the beginning of 2008, Soriana introduced the Soriana Súper format, aimed at providing a quicker shopping experience. This format was used to convert former Súper G and Súper Maz locations, as well as certain Gigante and Bodega Gigante branches with sales areas smaller than 3,500 square meters.
On April 18, 2008, the Gigante formats were officially discontinued, and all stores were rebranded under Soriana's formats, including the newly established Soriana Súper. Through this process, Soriana entered the State of Morelos by converting a former Bodega Gigante branch in Cuernavaca. With this acquisition, Soriana expanded its presence to all 32 states of the Mexican Republic, establishing itself as a national supermarket chain.
The conversion also allowed Soriana to enter cities where it previously had no presence but Gigante did, such as Ensenada and Tecate (Baja California Norte), Campeche (Campeche), Mexico City, Silao and San Miguel de Allende (Guanajuato), Acapulco (Guerrero), Cuernavaca (Morelos), Cozumel (Quintana Roo), Apizaco (Tlaxcala), and Valladolid (Yucatán). Additionally, it increased the number of branches in cities where Soriana already operated.
2008–2014
Following the acquisition of 199 Gigante stores and their conversion into different company formats, Soriana became a national chain as of April 18, 2008. With its hypermarket, supermarket, warehouse, and price club formats, the company began to compete directly with other national chains, its main competitor being Walmart, which held a strong presence in central Mexico.
In February 2010, as part of its multi-format strategy and ongoing geographic expansion, Soriana introduced the Soriana Express format in the municipality of Centla, Tabasco. This format consisted of supermarkets with a sales floor of 800 to 1,500 square meters, aimed at small cities and localities with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, as well as densely populated areas in larger cities. The first Soriana Express stores opened in late May 2010 in Ixtlán del Río, Nayarit, and El Rosario, Sinaloa.
In 2011, Soriana expanded the Soriana Express format nationwide. On February 9, 2011, it opened its first store of this type in Zacatecas, located in the municipality of Jerez de García Salinas with a 1,294 m2 sales floor and an investment of 29 million pesos. On March 10, 2011, the first Soriana Express stores in Jalisco opened in the municipalities of Tala and Zapotiltic. Additional stores followed in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga (April 27, 2011), Sayula (May 4, 2011), and Ameca (August 25, 2011). On the same day, Soriana also opened its first Soriana Express store in Morelos, in the municipality of Yautepec de Zaragoza.
As part of its multi-format strategy, Soriana restructured its organizational model in September 2011, segmenting its self-service formats according to market niches. That year, the company also introduced Soriana Súper VIP, a premium supermarket concept, beginning with the remodeled Soriana Súper Marne branch in San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León. The store featured a 2,230 m2 sales floor with gourmet products, imported wines, liquors, delicatessen items, and prepared foods. On October 7, 2011, Soriana opened additional Soriana Express stores in Culiacán, Sinaloa (El Dorado), and in Nacozari de García, Sonora. On December 9, 2011, the company inaugurated its first hypermarkets in the capitals of Guerrero and Quintana Roo, located in Chilpancingo and Chetumal, respectively.
Following the deaths of Soriana's founding brothers, leadership passed to Ricardo Martín Bringas, the youngest son of Francisco Martín Borque. By 2020, Martín Bringas had an estimated net worth of US$2.1 billion. Under his direction, Grupo Soriana expanded to more than 600 stores across 200 cities and towns, supported by 14 distribution centers nationwide. In 2006, the company relocated its headquarters from Torreón to Monterrey. Outside of Soriana, Martín Bringas and his wife founded Innovasport in 1999, specializing in athletic apparel, footwear, and sporting goods, along with a sneaker-focused spinoff chain, Innvictus, which together grew to more than 100 stores across Mexico. In 2010, he was named one of Expansión magazine's "100 Most Important Entrepreneurs in Mexico."
In 2013, Soriana built its first wind power plant in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, as part of its long-term sustainability strategy. On April 24, 2014, the company inaugurated its first hypermarket in the state of Morelos, located in Plaza Cedros, Jiutepec, with a 5,843 m2 sales floor and an investment of more than 101 million pesos. At the end of 2014, Soriana introduced a new corporate image for both the company and its store formats. The first location to adopt this updated image was the Soriana Súper San Agustín store in Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, Jalisco.
2015–2018: Acquisition of Comercial Mexicana Stores
On January 28, 2015, Soriana acquired a significant portion of Controladora Comercial Mexicana's 160 stores for a total of MXN 39,194,000. The acquisition included stores under the Comercial Mexicana, MEGA, Bodega Comercial Mexicana, and Alprecio formats, which became part of Soriana as of January 4, 2016.
In addition to the stores, Soriana obtained strategically important assets, including real estate for 118 stores, lease agreements for 42 stores, operating equipment, inventory, and the Julio Regalado promotional program, which had been established by Comercial Mexicana in 1980 and became part of Soriana in 2016. Due to conditions imposed by the Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE), only 143 branches were purchased, as the acquisition of the full 160 stores would have affected 27 markets, potentially reducing competition and increasing consumer prices. Consequently, 27 stores were not acquired and were later sold to third parties.
As a result, Comercial Mexicana retained 14 conditioned stores, while Soriana kept 13 for future sale. On January 4, 2016, the smaller formats Fresko, Sumesa, and City Market became part of Grupo LaComer, while the larger formats — Comercial Mexicana, MEGA, Bodega, and Alprecio — joined Soriana. Soriana obtained a license to use the Comercial Mexicana brand for more than two years before renaming the stores to Soriana formats.
During the transition, Soriana relaunched the Julio Regalado promotion on June 3, 2016, across the recently acquired Comercial Mexicana formats MEGA, Bodega, and Alprecio. On June 10, 2016, Soriana introduced the Soriana Híper Plus format, a premium hypermarket concept targeting middle- and high-income consumers, offering gourmet products and specialized departments such as cheese, wine, European breads, pastries, and exotic meats. The first store opened in the Miyana shopping center in Polanco, Mexico City, with a 7,245 m2 sales floor. In December 2016, Soriana reopened the Soriana Híper San Pedro store in Monterrey, Nuevo León, with a new premium concept and a sales floor of 8,637 m2, making it the second Soriana Híper Plus location in Mexico.
Some stores were closed as part of the integration process. On February 16, 2017, Soriana Súper Plaza Fiesta in Matamoros, Tamaulipas was permanently closed due to the proximity of another Soriana branch. On March 7, 2017, Soriana Híper Tepeyac in Zapopan, Jalisco, closed permanently due to low sales, as another Soriana Híper store was located nearby.
Starting in March 2017, Soriana began converting Comercial Mexicana stores to its own formats, beginning in Baja California with 14 branches converted to Soriana Híper. MEGA Comercial Mexicana branches in Baja California Sur, Sonora, and Sinaloa were also converted. In Mexico City, the Soriana Híper División del Norte branch (formerly Gigante) was converted into MEGA Soriana, alongside the opening of new MEGA Soriana stores in Patio Tollocan, Toluca, State of Mexico, and Plaza Citadina, Villa Corregidora, Querétaro. Additional Comercial Mexicana stores were similarly converted, including a branch in Zamora, Michoacán, which became Soriana Híper Zamora Madero in November 2017.
By March 1, 2018, Soriana completed the conversion of the remaining Comercial Mexicana stores into the following formats:
MEGA Soriana: Most Comercial Mexicana, all MEGA Comercial Mexicana, and some Bodega Comercial Mexicana stores were converted to this format.
Soriana Híper: Selected Comercial Mexicana and MEGA stores in León, Celaya, Puerto Vallarta, Veracruz, Coatzacoalcos, and Mérida were converted to the main Soriana Híper format.
Soriana Súper: Stores with sales floors under 3,500 m2, such as Comercial Mexicana Acapulco Costa Azul and Cancún Tulúm, were converted to this format.
Soriana Mercado: Certain Bodega Comercial Mexicana stores in Aguascalientes and Veracruz, as well as Comercial Mexicana Texcoco Aeropuerto, were converted to Soriana Mercado. Other Bodega Comercial Mexicana stores were temporarily operated as Bodega Soriana until December 31, 2018, before permanently becoming Soriana Mercado on January 1, 2019.
Soriana Express: Three Alprecio branches (Ojo de Agua, Lerma, and Yautepec) were initially converted to Bodega Soriana in 2018, and then to Soriana Express on January 1, 2019.
City Club: Between 2022 and 2023, MEGA Comercial Mexicana branches in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, and Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, were converted to City Club.
Sodimac Homecenter: MEGA Comercial Mexicana stores in Cuernavaca, Morelos, and Boca del Río, Veracruz, were converted to this format.
On May 31, 2018, Controladora Comercial Mexicana officially ceased operations. The Bodega Soriana format was discontinued on December 31, 2018, with most stores converted to Soriana Mercado; four became MEGA Soriana, and three became Soriana Express due to their small sales floor areas and previous Alprecio designation.
From Wikipedia’s article on Soriana, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4