Sociedad Española de Precios Únicos, S.A. (SEPU) was Spain's first

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

. SEPU was founded in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

9 January 1934, by Swiss citizens of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

origins, Henry Reisembach and Edouard Worms; it later opened branches in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

. Their slogan was "Quien calcula compra en SEPU" ("Who calculates buys at SEPU"). During the

Second Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII, and was dissolved on 1 ...

, SEPU was attacked by the

Falangist Falangism ( es, falangismo) was the political ideology of two political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS) and afterwards the Fal ...

newspaper '' Arriba'', and its premises were physically attacked by Falangists and their sympathizers. SEPU was purchased in 2000 by Australian retailer Rodd Partridge; it was a failing company at the time. The company closed in 2002 because of previous management's massive undisclosed accumulated tax debts. These could not be negotiated, and the company was forced to close. The popular SEPU stores were full of customers for the closing-down sale, police had to erect barricades to control the crowds.Report RTVE Amar - Historia de los Almacenes Sepu 31 August 2008 http://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/amar-en-tiempos-revueltos/amar-historia-almacenes-sepu/242587/ .

Notes

References

* * González, Isidro (2004). Los judíos y la Segunda República. 1931-1939. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. . Department stores of Spain Defunct retail companies Retail companies established in 1934 Retail companies disestablished in 2002 Spanish companies established in 1934 Defunct companies of Spain Spanish companies disestablished in 2002 Defunct department stores {{spain-stub