The Company Story
It was Antônio Jacob Renner who began to write the story of Renner. Of German descent, Renner began to work in the family lard factory in the township of São Sebastião do Caí while still a boy.
In 1912, he constitutes the A. J. Renner Group, an industry with installations in the Navegantes district. The factory manufactured and sold pure wool overcoats for general use as well as a specific line in men’s overcoats for keeping out the cold and protecting against the rain and the Minuano wind. Renner’s overcoats were to become an indispensable item of apparel both for the Gaúcho of the Campanha (the pampas area of the state of Rio Grande do Sul) and traveling salesmen as well as the urban dweller.
Lojas Renner opened its first point of sale in 1922. With the introduction of a broader product mix, in 1940 it becomes a department store. In 1965, Lojas Renner S.A. was constituted, in 1967 becoming a publicly listed company.
Lojas Renner underwent a complete restructuring at the end of 1991. The full line department store model was substituted by the concept of a department store specializing in fashion goods.
In 1994, the company establishes an expansion plan. Fully restructured, the company opens stores outside the boundaries of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, beginning to make its presence felt in the states of Santa Catarina with units in Florianópolis and Joinville. In the light of this successful initiative, the operation is expanded to the state of Paraná with the unveiling of a store in Curitiba in 1996.
In 1997, a further major step forward is taken: Lojas Renner’s entry into the state of São Paulo, Brazil’s economic powerhouse. Two stores are unveiled: one in the greater São Paulo area - in São Bernardo do Campo - and another on the west side of the city of São Paulo. In 1998, three more stores are unveiled, two in upstate cities - Sorocaba and Guarulhos - and one more in the state capital, thus consolidating the company’s business activities in São Paulo.
On December 22 1998, J. C. Penney Brazil, Inc., through its J.C. Penney Brasil Investimentos Ltda subsidiary acquired a controlling stake in the Company.
In 2005, the company recorded one more milestone both in respect to its own corporate history as well as that of Brazil as a whole. The fashion store adheres to the listing regulations of the São Paulo Stock Exchange’s (Bovespa) Novo Mercado segment. This was to be the first time that a Brazilian company would have its entire shares traded on the Stock Exchange without the presence of a controlling shareholder. This concept, denominated the corporation concept, is commonplace in the United States, but still not part of the Brazilian business scene.
The chairman of Lojas Renner’s Board of Directors is Cláudio Thomaz Lobo Sonder with Egon Handel as its vice-chairman. Other board members are José Galló, who has been the Company’s chief executive officer since the nineties, Miguel Krigsner, Pedro Eberle, Deborah Patricia Wright and José Carlos Hruby. With this, Renner, one of the largest department stores selling apparel in Brazil, records a fresh chapter in the Company’s development. Aligned to market tendencies and ready to offer the very best in fashion and styles to all its customers.
Currently, Lojas Renner has 144 stores in Brazil, 42 of them in São Paulo, 19 in Rio Grande do Sul, 15 in Rio de Janeiro, 10 in Paraná, 8 in Minas Gerais, 8 in Santa Catarina, 5 in the Federal District (Brasília), 5 in Bahia, 3 in Pernambuco, 2 in Ceará, 5 in Goiás, 2 in Amazonas, 2 in Espírito Santo, 2 in Pará, 1 in Mato Grosso do Sul, 1 in Mato Grosso, 1 in Paraíba, 1 in Sergipe, 1 in Roraima, 1 in Rio Grande do Norte, 1 in Alagoas and 1 in Tocantins..
Corporate Values
Enchantment is our fulfillment
We put ourselves in the place of our customers, doing everything for them that we would like to be done for us. We must understand their desires and needs, exceed their expectations and, so, enchant them. We are not simply employees, but rather enchanters of customers. We do not have a Customer Service Desk, because each one of us is a Customer Service Desk: there’s a problem - we solve right there and then.
Our Way
We are a cheerful, innovative, ethical, austere, open doors company where communication is easy and transparent. We do things in a simple and responsive way, with much enthusiasm and passion. Our business is driven by persistence, creativity, and optimism, always very close to the market: we adopt a get up and go attitude.
People
We hire, develop and retain the best staff - staff that like people, who have a passion for what they do and a shine in their eyes. We work as a team and our staff have the authority and responsibility to take decisions. We provide the same ladder to all our employees so they can rise in the company at a pace equal to their talents, efforts and results.
Owners of the Business
We think and act as owners of our business units, being rewarded as such. We have a sense of urgency, attitude and aggressiveness in seeking the best practices, constantly alert to all the opportunities in the market. We take decisions, running risks with responsibility; we accept the errors that come from moving up the learning curve, not seeking to blame but to identify causes that must be corrected. We are responsible for the long-term future of Renner, principally through attitudes and examples: an example worths more than a thousand words.
Determination to Achieve Exceptional Results
We are responsible for achieving results - not just good ideas. Results are what guarantee our investments, give a return to our shareholders, pay our salaries and make our growth and long-term continuity a reality.
Quality
We develop and implement standards of excellence in all that we do, since there is room for improvement in all that we do. Our products and services enjoy the highest levels of quality: this is written into our DNA.
WE ADORE CHALLENGES: IMPOSSIBLE IS NOT A WORD IN OUR VOCABULARY, WE JUST GET ON AND DO IT!
