* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
Located on the corner of Rambla de los Estudios 14 and Canuda 2, Almacenes Las Novedades opened its doors on Saturday, October 14, 1899.
La Vanguardia of October 14, 1899 announced on its cover the opening of a store that had been designed to specialize only in selling to the male public.
The premises were divided into a basement, ground floor and the main floor of the building and were fitted out by the carpentry workshop of R. Calonja and his son who, apart from carrying out all the interior decoration, created the shop windows on the Ramblas and Canuda façades.
An aspect that then gave prestige to the store was announced at the bottom of the newspaper advertisement: “Cash sales” and “Fixed price.” That is to say, a seriousness in the stipulated sales prices that turned out to be a handicap.
It was presented to the Barcelona public as the store that came to solve the needs of the male public at the gates of the 20th century, both in their family and professional, sports and travel life, specializing in all types of products for men.
In their establishment, the male staff would find tailored tailoring and shirting sections (something that today with ready-to-wear, ready-to-wear, and lack of time has been lost forever).
In the store, apart from the custom clothing department, sections had been set up for headgear, footwear, clothing items (coats, sweaters, underwear and casual garments), sports, travel and accessories such as ties, canes, umbrellas and a perfumery section with the best brands. And the articles for smokers could not be missing, cigarette cases, pipes, lighters, cigar cutters, etc.
At that time, the opening of the Las Novedades store was quite an event that was published by La Vanguardia the next day.
After commenting on the decoration of the ground floor and the basement, carried out with exquisite artistic taste, he commented on the fantastic lighting of the interior of the premises and also of the shop windows at night.
He also discussed the virtues of the new store, which not only offered a wide assortment of items, but also the presentation of “new items” both national and foreign.
Consolidated and with the arrival of the new century, Las Novedades expanded its offering by offering a ready-to-wear section and expanded its clientele with the inauguration of women’s clothing and children’s clothing sections.
In 1919, after some flourishing times, the saturation of department stores affected it and Las Novedades closed that same year. What had been, during the beginning of the 20th century, a good business was far behind.
For five years, a credit opening office was opened on the premises but it did not take off. At that time, the Sociedad Anónima Cafés de Catalunya was looking for a large location to open a new café on Las Ramblas.
The company did not miss the opportunity and quickly acquired the premises and after an enormous interior transformation turned it into Café La Rambla, which opened its doors on April 4, 1925. But that is another story…
