Origins

In the 1850s, French immigrant Victor Gassier opened a clothing store, Las Fábricas de Francia (The Factories of France), not related with the currently operating Fábricas de Francia chain. In 1860, Gassier teamed up with Alexander Reynaud, forming a business called Gassier & Reynaud. In 1876, José Tron, his brother Henri and José Leautaud bought in, forming the association V. Gassier & Reynaud, Sucs. S. en C.. In 1879 the business' formal name was changed to J. Tron y Cía. (J. Tron and Co), but continued to trade as Las Fábricas de Francia.

Tron and Leautaud's business kept growing and in 1879, they started plans to build a store in Mexico City along the lines of the upscale stores that had already opened in Paris by that time, such as Le Bon Marché. In 1888 they bought the land to build their store, and later hired the Mexican architect Ignacio de la Hidalga to build a five-story building, the first in Mexico City made of iron and steel. As such, people who passed by would ask "what iron palace (palacio de hierro) are they building?". In 1891, when construction finished, Tron and Leautaud decided to rename the business El Palacio de Hierro, taking advantage of the publicity earned during construction.

On April 15, 1914 a fire destroyed the building. Other buildings were then used. As the Mexican Revolution made immediate reconstruction difficult or impossible, it took until 1921 to open the new store. French architect Paul Dubois designed the store in art nouveau style, featuring dual stained-glass ceilings by Jacques Grüber^[1] (1870-1936) of Nancy, France, and which opened for business on October 14, 1921.^[4][5]

Nowadays, El Palacio de Hierro is part of Grupo BAL, a Mexican conglomerate with interests in insurance, mining and retail.

Product lines

Product lines are broader than those carried by U.S. department stores today, including full ranges of electronics (televisions, laptops, cellphones), large home appliances (white goods, small appliances, furniture and home furnishings and accessories, mattresses, domestics (bed linens, towels), sporting goods, books and magazines, candy, gourmet food, wines, and liquors. In-store services include restaurants, food halls, hair salons, spa services, and a travel agency.^[6] However, women's, men's and children's apparel and accessories, fine jewelry, cosmetics, and fragrances, still dominate. In these areas, Palacio is the high-end chain in Mexico, compared to others such as Liverpool and Sears Mexico.

Palacio is the only Mexican department store chain that carries and in many cases, hosts in-store boutiques for, a broad range of global luxury brands. In late 2023, for example, the chain featured Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Carolina Herrera, Saint Laurent Paris, Alexander McQueen, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferragamo,Givenchy, Chloé, Balmain, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand, Moschino, and Rimowa on its website.^[7] Other brands carried in recent times have included Bvlgari, Bottega Veneta, Hermès, Tiffany's, Cartier, Esprit, Max Mara, BCBG Max Azria, Emporio Armani, Fendi, Gucci, Tory Burch, Prada, Ermenegildo Zegna, Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Versace, Swarovski, Burberry, Escada, Juicy Couture. It also carries some Mexican high-end brands. But Palacio also carries many upper middle-range brands such as Emilio Pucci, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, and Spain-based Carolina Herrera, Adolfo Domínguez, Purificación García^[es] and Mango.

Branches

Since its complete remodel and reopening in 2016, the de facto flagship store is the 4-story, 55,248-square-metre (594,680 sq ft) freestanding store in Polanco designed by architect Javier Sordo Madaleno, which the company gave the nickname "El Palacio de los Palacios", "the Palace of the Palaces").^[8] The property originally was a mall, opened in 1997, including a Palacio store, and in 2015 the mall area was incorporated into the Palacio store as part of the US$300 million remodel and expansion.^[9]

The original store and historic flagship (1891, rebuilt and reopened 1921),^[9] still operates along the north side of Venustiano Carranza street in the Historic center of Mexico City, one block south of the Zócalo (main square), between 5 de Febrero and 20 de Noviembre avenues.

The Durango store, on Durango street in Colonia Roma Norte, is the only other freestanding Palacio, and was the first branch store, built in 1958. There are 5 full-line Palacio branches anchoring upscale malls across Mexico City's affluent western half: Perisur (1980), Santa Fe (1993), Satélite (1998), Interlomas (2011), and Mítikah (2022, replacing the 1989 Coyoacán store). There are 6 full-line Palacio stores, one each in metropolitan Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Querétaro, Veracruz, and Villahermosa.

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  Painting of the original Palacio (Centro) in 1898
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  1904 postcard of Palacio–Centro
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  1908 painting of Palacio-Centro
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  Palacio-Centro, 1912 before fire^[1]
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  1925 postcard of the current Palacio de Hierro–Centro building, opened in 1921^[10]
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  Polanco store exhibiting Uriarte Talavera
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  Entrance to Casa Palacio, Centro Santa Fe, 2013