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When the former Almacenes El Siglo burned down on Christmas Day 1932, something changed on the current Ramblas of Barcelona, especially at that time in the section of the Rambla de los Estudios.
The El Siglo Warehouses not only occupied a large part of that space, but also obstructed the exit to the Rambla on Pintor Fortuny Street, blocked by the monumental building.
After the fire that these warehouses suffered, the site was left vacant, giving rise to the transformation of that part of the Rambla de los Estudios that, with its urbanization, was transformed forever, providing the citizens of the Raval with a quick exit to that section. de las Ramblas, whose businesses and buildings were, on the Raval side, the following, taking into account that the Church of Belén with the numbering of Calle del Carmen, was followed by:
The first thing the City Council did was open Pintor Fortuny Street from Xuclà Street and develop the new piece of street by building on the sea side the façade belonging to the old Tabacos de Filipinas building (the first large Spanish multinational founded by Antonio López and López in 1881, today the Hotel 1898).
On its mountain side, after a time of dedicating the site to public activities, the missing Manila Hotel was built in 1956, where the Manila Galleries were installed, with the Great Manila Cafeteria, the Mari Lola Farm and the Vda painting house, Monfalcón , which closed its doors in 1990 to become the current Hotel Le Meridien.
Next, in the building next door, the Sánchez Egea family built the Astoria Galleries, which came to give the city a new type of commerce, offering something different from what was known to date, with the opening of a series of service companies.
The Galleries were inaugurated on December 16, 1955. The event was attended by the priest of the Bethlehem church, who blessed the facilities, and a series of personalities representing the Civil Governor and the Mayor of the city. Soon the galleries became famous through a radio spot that said: "In his memory Astoria Galleries."
In 1957, the Sánchez Egea family, tired of the business and the competition, sold the galleries to the Amat family (Juan and Fernando), who tried to give a new boost to the premises, since the novelty of the early days was constantly decreasing.
After some changes to the interior, taking advantage of the proximity of the Christmas holidays, on December 19, 1959, they inaugurated one of the first Spanish food supermarkets, Superservis, which contributed to relaunching the Galerías Astoria again.
For a few years the galleries once again revived the influx of customers, but a new enemy appeared on the horizon: the arrival of El Corte Inglés, with its supermarket, and also large French stores, such as Pryca, which in a short time opened four centers. important cities on the outskirts of Barcelona, as well as later the also French Continente.
Continente opened a shopping center on the site that had been occupied by the former Hispano Olivetti Italian typewriter factory and, next to the supermarket, built a large area of clothing stores, gifts, bars, restaurants and services.
Continente built a multiplex cinema with several rooms and a leisure section, where the little ones could enjoy attractions and the older ones could enjoy performances by artists, among whom was a very young Lucrecia. Continente later became the Carrefour group.
In 1968, the Astoria Galleries closed their doors and the large premises that housed them were acquired by the French supermarket and department store chain Simago Prisunic, which opened an establishment a year later.
Today the establishment continues to be linked to another French supermarket chain, Carrefour, which has managed to take root in that space on Las Ramblas, with its Carrefour Market Barcelona on Rambla de los Estudios, 113.
