Éxito is a Colombian supermarket chain owned by Grupo Éxito and headquartered in Medellín, Colombia. It was founded in Envigado in the year 1949, by Gustavo Toro Quintero and now is one of the largest supermarket companies in the country, and has 390 stores located in 175 municipalities of Colombia. The capital city of Bogotá has the most stores.
History
In March 26, 1949, Gustavo Toro Quintero (a businessman) opened the first store of "Almacenes Éxito" in the center of the Medellín. In its principles was a store dedicated to the selling of snippets and textile clothing.[1]
Gustavo Toro loves helping those in need and that help was reinforced in 1993 with the creation of "Fundación Éxito" that in its beginnings was dedicated to strengthening topics like education, social conditions, and civic and cultural. Today its work focus is children´s nutrition.
In 1994 the company started its share opening entrancing to the Bogota, Medellín and West stock exchanges.
In 1998 it created the virtual store of Éxito in association with NormaNet being a pioneer in Colombian online trading.
In 2001, the company merged with "Cadenalco" disappearing in this way "Almacenes Super Ley" and then acquires to "Almacenes Ley".[2]