Fábricas de Francia (English: Factories of France) was a Mexican department store founded in 1878 in Guadalajara as a lingerie store by 3 French immigrants.[1] In 1988, the El Puerto de Liverpool group bought the chain.[2] By 2018, there were 41 Fábricas stores across Mexico. In 2018 and 2019, El Puerto de Liverpool phased out the Fábricas de Francia brand and all stores were converted to either the Liverpool or Suburbia brand, except for four that were closed permanently.[3]
History
Fábricas de Francia was founded as a lingerie store in Guadalajara in 1878 by Disiderio Bonnafoux, José Chapuy and Léon Fortoul, immigrants from the Ubaye Valley and Barcelonnette in southeastern France. The original store was at the northeast corner of San Francisco street (today, Avenida Juárez) and Del Carmen (today, Avenida 16 de Septiembre), a mansion (Spanish: palacio) of typical Spanish Colonial architecture. With its growing success, the building was expanded and remodeled in 1898-9 in Parisian style (Second Empire style. It became the largest department store in the city, surpassing Ciudad de México, La Ciudad de París and Nuevo Mundo.[4]
The Parisian style in architecture was less appreciated by 1948, and the once-impressive palacio was demolished in order to expand Juárez Avenue. The store opened its doors again, now in a modern-style building, which was rebuilt again in the early 1980s after an extensive fire. The façade that existed at the end of 1990 is the same today, though the store is now a branch of Liverpool, [1][4] as in 2018-9 the owners El Puerto de Liverpool group converted 37 of the 41 Fábricas de Francia stores to either Liverpool or Suburbia formats, and permanently closed four others.
The original store in 1905 after the 1899 remodel.
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