It has been ten years since the Sendas brand disappeared from the facades of supermarkets in Rio, but the group, founded in 1960 by Arthur Antônio Sendas, the son of a Portuguese father and a Brazilian mother, remains indirectly connected to retail. Over half of the revenue of this Rio-based group comes from renting out 55 commercial properties. E-commerce, the main transformation in commerce in recent years, is also on their radar. Their presence in this sector is through a partnership in a logistics condominium in São João de Meriti, in the Baixada Fluminense, where Amazon's distribution center operates in Rio de Janeiro.

In this location, Sendas has a partnership with Prologis, the global leader in logistics and industrial real estate, in warehouses located on Arthur Antônio Sendas Avenue, a tribute to the group's patriarch, also known as "Seu Arthur," who passed away in 2008. The logistics sector accounts for nearly 10% of the revenue and has growth potential, according to Nelson Sendas, the second son of Arthur Sendas and former commercial director of the supermarket chain. He is currently the vice president of Sendas Empreendimentos, presided over by his brother, Arthur Filho.

The origins of the family business date back to the 1920s, when it was known as Armazém Trasmontano, established by Arthur's father, Portuguese immigrant Manoel Antônio Sendas. Decades later, when Sendas merged with GPA, the owner of the Pão de Açúcar chain, in 2003, the group became the fifth largest supermarket chain in the country.

The Sendas' entrepreneurial journey gained prominence with the release of the biography "Arthur Sendas: uma história de pioneirismo e inovação" (Arthur Sendas: a story of pioneering and innovation) by writer Luciana Medeiros. Arthur Sendas was one of the supermarket pioneers in the country and even served as a spokesperson for the industry, presiding over the Brazilian Supermarket Association (Abras) in the 1980s.

Source: Valor Econômico