When global brands invest in local commerce: Castelli and the legacy of Cal Rei

GironaLast May, during Temps de Flors, Girona's picturesque Sant Domènec hill woke up filled with cemetery crosses symbolically planted with the names of local businesses in the city. a protest action of the Platform for the Decrease in Tourism against the opening of a large cycling temple in the magnificent Odeon Theatre, which will open next month, completely renovated. Amidst the crosses was the name of Cal Rei, an emblematic century-old Girona homewares and furniture store, which closed its doors in the spring of 2022.

There where many Girona residents had shopped for decades, first with clothes by the meter, then making their first Flagship Store internationally, of what is the world's leading cycling clothing brand: Castelli. The partnership was quickly established: many Girona residents thought that businesses from outside, especially those seeking a location in what had become a world cycling mecca, would end up in a historic location.

But those who had come to this conclusion may have been surprised when they passed by 25 Nou Street last week. Part of the Castelli store window has been converted into a tribute to Cal Rei, which is quite a statement of intent. "We want to continue the legacy of those who for 105 years wove Girona's commerce. Looking forward to another 100 years," it reads, before a historic photograph of the Cal Rei façade, a floor wrapped in the characteristic black and white of gift-wrapping paper, and an armchair and a law.

Can a global brand also be local?

"Castelli didn't close Cal Rei. What closed Cal Rei was globalization, the online sale of low-quality, low-priced furniture, and our declining sales," explains Manel Batallé, pleased that the Cal Rei brand will once again be displayed on Carrer Nou in Girona for a few weeks. For Òscar Ceballos, head of Castelli's business in Girona, the tribute to a century-old business in the city is also a way of asserting that a global brand like Castelli, which remains a family business, can also be part of the fabric of local commerce in a city, beyond tourism.

This is the daily adventure that the unwavering team formed by himself, Luisa, and Esther has faced for almost two and a half years working at Castelli Girona. "I'm from a village, and I'm clear that day-to-day life is essential. Networking with the surrounding businesses, greeting all customers with a good day in Catalan and, if they don't understand, they still feel welcome," details Òscar Ceballos. My fan also claims amateur cycling talent in Girona with three local ambassadors, weekly social classes and full moon nights open to everyone.

In this way they have helped that the place is a espai conegut amb Girona. The first few months of being open, many people curious to know what had happened at Cal Rei. But in Batallé, feeling that in some way it is maintained that they have arrived at the place, together with their German, it is comforting: "I know it's not my house, but they're not in it. fan feel foreign". But don't be fooled: with the growth of foreign tourism in the city, Castelli wouldn't have started the Girona adventure of opening its own physical store for the first time and now it would not have to open one similar to Berlin.

But rather than seeking promotion abroad, the logic of Òscar Ceballos' team has been to grow within the network of potential customers in Girona. "We have had three incredible Christmas campaigns, in which most of the sales are in stores, and last year we grew 28% in turnover," he points out. The expansion of the brand has been accompanied by the celebration next year of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the business through a small sewing workshop in Milan, where ski clothes were made. In 1935, the brand was acquired by Maurizio Castelli, a worker, leaving his name behind. Since 2003, the brand has been in the hands of the Cremonese family, who began making wool clothing and have built a sportswear manufacturing empire with factories across Europe. Since the 1950s, the company has been headquartered in Fonzaso, a small town in the Dolomites. Its headquarters are led by four brothers, as well as investor Steve Smith, who first targeted Girona as a cycling capital and began opening the brand's stores outside of Italy.

The History of the 20th Century

It's very difficult to draw parallels between the world's highest-grossing cycling clothing brand in 2024 and Cal Rei. But the iconic Girona store also embodied the transformation of an era, from generation to generation. Josep Batallé Amat, whose grandson describes him as "a restless and peaceful character," earned the nickname "The King" in certain circles of Girona society at the beginning of the 20th century. As a young man, he went to work in Paris to learn about textile warehouses, and when he returned to Girona, he opened several shops, including the one on Carrer Nou, which had to be completely rebuilt after the Civil War. "During the war, their aim was poor; they wanted to attack the Hotel Peninsular and accidentally demolished my grandfather's house," explains Manel Batallé.

That textile business evolved over time and customer demand towards clothing. And it wasn't until the 1980s that household linens began to gain more prominence with the arrival of the third generation, until clothing was completely abandoned in 1992. It was then the turn of the Cal Rei we know today, where people went to buy furniture and, above all, designer objects from all over Europe. "It's where I had the most fun, looking for unique products," recalls the founders' grandson. But globalization and the standardization and democratization of unique, lower-quality products caused Cal Rei to lose sales.

"We were still holding on two years after the pandemic, but we had to leave nostalgia behind and face reality," explains Batallé. In 2022, Cal Rei closed while a new Barri Vell model was awakened, with a total metamorphosis of the gastronomic offer and above all the massive entry of businesses linked to cycling, which ishave multiplied by five in just one decade Hand in hand with the increase in cycling tourists. Castelli represents the new world, but like the Velodrome at the Odeón, where the splendor and frescoes of an ancient, forgotten theater have been restored, they seek to somehow reflect Girona's unique DNA. Citizens want to see these businesses not as something foreign, but as part of the commercial and social fabric that they can feel at home in.