| History, Operating Structure and About [GRI 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9] Grupo Pão de Açúcar is currently one of Brazil’s leading retailers with 70,656 employees and sales of R$ 20.9 billion in 2008, an 18.2% growth over the 2007 sales of R$ 17.6 billion. It is a publicly-held joint stock company that currently has 597 stores distributed across 14 states in the southeast, where its headquarters are located in São Paulo (SP), south, midwest and northeast regions, plus the Federal District, totaling 1.4 million square meters of sales area. 
The Company began operations in 1948 in São Paulo as a sweetshop founded by Valentim dos Santos Diniz, a Portuguese immigrant who came to Brazil in 1929 at the age of 16. Doceira Pão de Açúcar, as it was called, soon became well known for the quality of service and by the attention given by “Seu Santos” (Mr. Santos), as he was known, to his customers. Financial success followed shortly, resulting in the opening of the first branch in 1952, and in the diversification of business, which eventually grew to become the Grupo Pão de Açúcar of today. “Mr. Santos” presided over the Group till 1995, when his fi rst son Abilio, who had been working in the company since 19, took over. “Mr. Santos” then became the chairman of the board of directors and became its honorary chairman in 2003. In March 2008, the patriarch of the Diniz family passed away, leaving behind for the nation the legacy of his entrepreneurship.  |