Santa Isabel (supermarkets)
Supermercados Santa Isabel (Spanish pronunciation: [supermeɾˈkaðos santa isaˈβel]) are a chain of supermarkets throughout Chile, Ecuador and Paraguay, owned by Cencosud. The markets are an average of 1,500 square meters.
History
Origins
Santa Isabel was founded in Valparaíso, Chile in 1976 by Eduardo Elberg. Until the mid-1990s he maintained organic growth within the Valparaíso Province and the historic Los Lagos province now split into Los Lagos and Los Ríos provinces.
In 1996 an aggressive plan was started to expand the company both nationally and internationally. During this expansion the company went public and entered the Chilean capital region, Peru, and Paraguay under the subsidiary Supermercados Stock.
In July 1996 the company bought Multimarket's 25 locations in Santiago and the country's south under the Multimarket and Gigante monikers. During September of said year Santa Isabel acquired ten Marmentini Letelier stores in the Metropolitana Region and San Antonio areas. At the same time the company expanded to Ecuador.