Garrido stores is a chain of Dominican department stores targeting for the most part the lower middle class found in Greater Santo Domingo. The founder of this store chain is a Spaniard that arrived in 1964. The reason this store was even created in a way is by chance.
The founder is from the small town of Pola de Allende in Northern Spain and in fact was involved in the agriculture outside of town.He became aware the world doesn’t consist of the small town he knew when he went to bigger towns and cities in Spain. He noticed that many Spaniards would move to the Americas and then many went back to Spain to vist or move back and they were showing they had a better economic situation than when they left with many building nicer homes, driving nicer cars and other things those that stayed in Spain usually were not able to have. In his mind and those of many Spaniards, the entire Americas was doing good economically, so he wanted to go to the Americas.
Originally he went to Puerto Rico and was going to stay in Puerto Rico where there was a family member living there. An issue with a US visa meant he couldn’t stay in Puerto Rico for long. The family member suggested that a good option to move to was the DR since there were many Spaniards living in the country and it had good prospects for advancing. He also told him not to let anyone offer him a job anywhere outside Santo Domingo, because in the capital cities is where the checks are made (the place to make money.) Based on that suggestion, he decided to migrate from Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo where he knew absolutely no one.
His initial intention was to be in Santo Domingo for a short time to create enough savings to open a restaurant back in Spain and retire there. While working not in what became Garrido, he met a Dominican woman from Sánchez and apparently was struck by her (despite initially she wasn’t into him) that he promised himself he will win her over. Eventually they got together and formed a family. Also, some years after living in Santo Domingo, the family member living in Puerto Rico lended him some money to establish a small store and that’s how Garrido was born. Those two things, getting involved with a Dominican woman and the increasing success experienced with the new Garrido store meant the plan to go back to Spain was abandoned.
The store on the Duarte was the very first one, though initially it wasn’t as big as it’s now nor selling the same stuff. It was the first store with air conditioning in the Duarte. Something the founder speaks of with pride, lol
Another of their store can be seen on Las Americas Highway going to or from Boca Chica/Las Americas Airport.
They have a few more stores in other areas of Greater SD.
The founder wasn’t interviewed despite he is still alive though in his late 80’s, but those are his 3 kids. They seem to still be involved in running Garrido (certainly the woman), but she said sone of their kids are now getting their post secondary education abroad. Some have expressed their intention to return to the DR probably to put their acquired knowledge to further develop Garrido while others have said they will stay abroad.
For all the people that work (and worked) in Garrido, where would they be working if the founder never settled in Santo Domingo by chance? Everybody know the DR has a large informal sector and many people need to make a living out of their own devices due in part because the country didn’t produced even more people with an entrepreneural spirit and the willingness for their business to be formal?
The real interview starts around 4:00 in Spanish.
Things don’t happen just because. Even what appears as a random decision, it’s a product of a deliberate action taken many years before by the government of that country. One thing leads to the next and has ramification well after those deliberate decisions are gone.
The founder is from the small town of Pola de Allende in Northern Spain and in fact was involved in the agriculture outside of town.He became aware the world doesn’t consist of the small town he knew when he went to bigger towns and cities in Spain. He noticed that many Spaniards would move to the Americas and then many went back to Spain to vist or move back and they were showing they had a better economic situation than when they left with many building nicer homes, driving nicer cars and other things those that stayed in Spain usually were not able to have. In his mind and those of many Spaniards, the entire Americas was doing good economically, so he wanted to go to the Americas.
Originally he went to Puerto Rico and was going to stay in Puerto Rico where there was a family member living there. An issue with a US visa meant he couldn’t stay in Puerto Rico for long. The family member suggested that a good option to move to was the DR since there were many Spaniards living in the country and it had good prospects for advancing. He also told him not to let anyone offer him a job anywhere outside Santo Domingo, because in the capital cities is where the checks are made (the place to make money.) Based on that suggestion, he decided to migrate from Puerto Rico to Santo Domingo where he knew absolutely no one.
His initial intention was to be in Santo Domingo for a short time to create enough savings to open a restaurant back in Spain and retire there. While working not in what became Garrido, he met a Dominican woman from Sánchez and apparently was struck by her (despite initially she wasn’t into him) that he promised himself he will win her over. Eventually they got together and formed a family. Also, some years after living in Santo Domingo, the family member living in Puerto Rico lended him some money to establish a small store and that’s how Garrido was born. Those two things, getting involved with a Dominican woman and the increasing success experienced with the new Garrido store meant the plan to go back to Spain was abandoned.
The store on the Duarte was the very first one, though initially it wasn’t as big as it’s now nor selling the same stuff. It was the first store with air conditioning in the Duarte. Something the founder speaks of with pride, lol
Another of their store can be seen on Las Americas Highway going to or from Boca Chica/Las Americas Airport.
They have a few more stores in other areas of Greater SD.
The founder wasn’t interviewed despite he is still alive though in his late 80’s, but those are his 3 kids. They seem to still be involved in running Garrido (certainly the woman), but she said sone of their kids are now getting their post secondary education abroad. Some have expressed their intention to return to the DR probably to put their acquired knowledge to further develop Garrido while others have said they will stay abroad.
For all the people that work (and worked) in Garrido, where would they be working if the founder never settled in Santo Domingo by chance? Everybody know the DR has a large informal sector and many people need to make a living out of their own devices due in part because the country didn’t produced even more people with an entrepreneural spirit and the willingness for their business to be formal?
The real interview starts around 4:00 in Spanish.
Things don’t happen just because. Even what appears as a random decision, it’s a product of a deliberate action taken many years before by the government of that country. One thing leads to the next and has ramification well after those deliberate decisions are gone.