São Paulo – The commerce on 25 de Março Street, in downtown São Paulo, Brazil, is changing: From wholesale to both wholesale and retail, and from physical to both physical and digital. Once home to Arab immigrants in the early 20th century, the area now hosts Brazilians, Chinese, Italians, and entrepreneurs from various countries. Although many descendants of Syrians and Lebanese have left the area, there are still merchants who support their families in the traditional “25.”
25 de Março Street is named after the first Constitution of Brazil, enacted on March 25, 1824. However, the Chamber of Deputies designated this date as National Arab Community Day because many Middle Eastern immigrants settled in the region to live and work.
A representative of the third generation of Rei do Armarinho, a store located on Rua Cavalheiro Basílio Jafet, Pierre Sarruf recounts the story of his grandfather, Afif, as that of many other immigrants from Syria and Lebanon who settled on the “25.”
Afif’s two older brothers arrived in Brazil in 1910. They worked as peddlers throughout the interior of São Paulo until opening a store in the 25 de Março area. They then brought over their younger siblings, including Afif. As they grew older, Afif took over the business, with partnerships evolving over the years as the company expanded. Of Afif’s four children, Sérgio and Gilberto, Pierre’s father, continued in the business.
Today, Rei do Armarinho also offers services, such as courses with professionals who create knit and crochet clothing. In sales, ribbons, embroidery, and threads for crochet and knitting are some of the store’s main products. Pierre mentions that the Christmas collection is a special feature. At the end of the year, the store opens a showroom with new items for the season, where it hosts decorators who offer tips to customers.
“We made some reductions due to the overheating of the real estate market in the area with the arrival of the Chinese in the 1990s and 2000s. There was pressure on rent, so we ended up reducing our physical space and created wholesale sales alternatives through commercial representatives. We updated ourselves by building a well-structured online store for customers who can’t come here,” says Pierre, 48, the CEO of a 99-year-old company that he manages with his brother Philipe, 43, the CFO.
The business arrangements that took place at Rei do Armarinho are also seen in other stores. The reasons, according to the merchants, range from high costs to operate in the area to the departure of younger generations from the business to pursue other professions.
Elias Ambar’s parents, Georges and Linda, arrived in Brazil in 1948 from Kfar Meshki, a town south of Beirut, Lebanon. Their first child, Roberto, now 75, was born in 1949. They were followed by Mari, 73, Elias, and João, 67. Once settled in Brazil, Georges and his cousins, who were already living there, went out to trade through the interior of São Paulo. Mari was born in Marília, a town in the state’s interior where the family briefly tried to settle, but Georges gave up. “I think his vibe was different. He said, ‘I’m going to São Paulo,’” says Elias, who, like Roberto and João, is from São Paulo.
Elias recalls, sometimes consulting his brother Roberto, the events that brought Armarinho Ambar to the present day, a trajectory intertwined with the history of the 25 de Março Street area. First, Elias’ father settled on a property on Carlos de Souza Nazaré Street, an area that frequently flooded. They moved the store to Cavalheiro Basílio Jafet Street, and in 1967, they finally relocated to Rua 25 de Março, where they remain to this day.
“Until around 1970, we worked heavily in wholesale. Retail barely existed. But there was an event that initially seemed like a disaster, which was a flood [around 1967]. My father had just acquired the store and had debts. He lost everything. We cleaned the store and tried to salvage what we could. Then the news spread that we were selling the merchandise at rock-bottom prices,” recalls Elias about a promotion that local businesses affected by the flood held to sell off their stock.
“With that, people got used to it and learned to come to 25 de Março. And with the evolution of the market, the 25 started opening up space for retail,” he says. In addition to the typical São Paulo flood, the ups and downs of the Brazilian economy contributed to further changes in the region’s trade. The inflation of the 1980s, the opening to imported products in the early 1990s, and the introduction of the Real Plan in 1994 led to the diversification of products, businesses, and shopkeepers.
Until the internet changed everything. “Everything is everything now. In the past, the store was almost entirely wholesale, 90% wholesale. Then it started turning into a mix of wholesale and retail, with retail sales increasing, and wholesale taking on a slightly different appeal.” The one who says the internet “changed everything” is Jorge Dib, director of Depósito de Meias São Jorge. The company was founded by his father, Salvador, and his uncle, Feiad, who, as children, began peddling goods at São Paulo’s street markets until they were both hired to work at a store. They later left that company and, once again together, opened Depósito de Meias São Jorge.
The Arabs of Rua 25 de Março and the digital transformation
Among all the changes the business has gone through, Dib says the internet was the one that forced the company to reinvent itself. “The idea was to open other stores across Brazil and create a multi-brand network. But the founders convinced us not to do that. They had a different mindset, believing it wouldn’t work. So, we shifted to another segment, which today represents most of the company’s revenue, the digital one. We have a strong presence in the digital market,” he says. However, he has no plans to give up the company’s two locations on 25 de Março Street.
“Life is completely different now. We have reach, a network that covers all of Brazil—we serve the entire country, both wholesale and retail. We operate across 14 marketplaces,” he says, referring to the digital platforms where products purchased from his company are resold by other merchants.
In addition to being local entrepreneurs, Dib and Elias are directors of the Union of Shopkeepers of 25 de Março and Surroundings (Univinco), which represents local businesses in discussions with civil society, authorities, and companies. One of the institution’s current challenges is demanding a solution for the frequent power outages. Another challenge is finding ways to enhance security for both shopkeepers and customers. Through Univinco, merchants also explore strategies to attract visitors traveling to São Paulo for trade fairs and events.
The area covered by Univinco includes 17 streets and avenues and 3,500 stores, 590 of which are at street level, while the rest are in commercial buildings. About 60% of the shopkeepers are members of Univinco.
“It’s an area of the city located between the Mercadão [São Paulo’s Municipal Market] and the Marco Zero [at Praça da Sé]. There’s a lot happening here culturally, and we’re right in the middle of it, along with the Mercadão,” says Dib about the location of 25 de Março Street. “There are several Arab restaurants in the area, and maybe some things need to be promoted. There are generations that still don’t fully know what happens here,” he adds.
Generation after generation, these descendants of Arab immigrants continue to make a living and expand their businesses there, alongside a diverse array of merchants offering a wide variety of products from different backgrounds. They have no intention of leaving. In fact—as Dib, Sarruf, and Ambar have demonstrated—they want to stay.
“As a 99-year-old company, we have deep love and respect for what our predecessors built. Those of us managing Rei do Armarinho today understand the immense effort our families put in. We fight to preserve and modernize the business. Despite the fierce competition in the market, this is our place,” says Sarruf.
The Ambar family, like the Sarruf and Dib families, also invests in digital business and derives part of the company’s revenue from there. Guilherme Ambar, 45, Roberto’s son, is responsible for this part of the business. Everyone, except for his sister Mari, is involved in the daily operations of Armarinho Ambar. And they plan to stay, says Elias: “Thinking about leaving 25 de Março… certainly not. Because this is our life here, there is a very strong connection. We were born here in the region. If you ask me if I could be born again, would I choose not to come to 25? No. So many good things have happened…”
