Sanborns

Grupo Sanborns S.A. de C.V.

Type	Public
Traded as	: GSANBOR N
Founded	1903; 114 years ago (1903)
Headquarters	Mexico City, Mexico
Key people	Carlos Slim Domit, (CEO)
Products	Cafeteria, Restaurant, Retail, Pharmacy, Department Store
Number of employees	18,000+
Website	sanborns.com.mx

Grupo Sanborns is a large restaurant, retail, pharmacy and department store chain located in Mexico, El Salvador and Panama.

The retail company was founded in Mexico City on June 19, 1903, by California immigrants Walter and Frank Sanborn, who also opened Mexico's first soda fountain. The original location and its lunch counter, across from the main Mexico City post office (Palacio de Correos) is still in operation.

During the Mexican Revolution, troops of Emiliano Zapata used a Sanborns branch located where the Libreria Madero is today, as a rendezvous point and gathering place. Extant photos show Zapatista soldiers enjoying their first restaurant meal at Sanborns' lunch counter.[1] Thus the Sanborns slogan Meet me at Sanborns.

In 1919, Walter Sanborn, tired of Mexico's political turmoil, returned to the US and left the management of the company to his brother Frank.

The trademark of the franchise, the three owls, represent Mr. Frank Sanborn and his sons, Francis and Jonathan. For some time, the official name of the company was "Sanborn´s Hermanos" (Sanborn´s Brothers), when Mr. Frank died.

Also in 1919, Sanborns acquired its most famous branch location, the 16th century House of Tiles, the Casa de los Azulejos, a major Mexico City tourist attraction and national monument. This is probably the world's only pharmacy decorated with a mural by José Clemente Orozco.

In 1946, Frank Sanborn sold his interest in Sanborns to fellow pharmacist Charles Walgreen Jr. of Chicago.