Casas bahia

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Casas Bahia S.A. Type Subsidiary
Industry Retail
Founded 1957
Headquarters São Caetano do Sul, Brazil
Key people Samuel Klein (Founder)
Michael Klein (CEO)[1]
Products Furniture and appliances
Revenue R$ 16,825 million (2012)[2]
Employees 39,600
Parent Viavarejo
Website www.casasbahia.com.br

Casas Bahia (English: Bahia Houses) is a in Brazilian retail chain which specializes in furniture and home appliances. It was founded in 1957 in São Caetano do Sul, São Paulo, by Polish immigrant Samuel Klein,[3] who began his career as a peddler selling products to immigrants from the Brazilian Northeast. The chain is currently owned by Grupo Pão de Açúcar, which has purchased it in December 2009.[4]

[edit] InformationAs of 2004, the company employed 22,000 people and was generating $2 billion in profits.[5] By 2010, it had more than 500 stores in eleven states (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo, Paraná, Santa Catarina, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and even Bahia), besides the Federal District. Today, the company has 572 stores in Brazil. The state with the largest number of Casas Bahia stores is São Paulo.

Casas Bahia, unlike many of its competitors, does not rely on an internet presence as a cornerstone of its strategy—only in February 2009 it launched its online store, pressed by an increasing number of online sales in Brazil.

Rather, Casas Bahia makes the majority of its profit by charging interest on installment plan purchases, making it possible for low-income customers to purchase products which they would not be able to pay off in a single payment.

Another sales technique of the store is to locate cashiers in the back of the store, which