El Corte Inglés

El Corte Ingles is THE major Spanish department store, as large as this is there are several other El Cortes just up the side street, I guess it is hard to put «everything for everyone always» under one roof.
In this building I use two parts :
The top floor for the gourmet section and the views which are pretty spectacular. (they have their restraints here as well)
The basement which has the Grocery store and an area with soap, deodorant etc. (Bw the big El Corte at Puerta del Sol (this one has a bakery) has a bigger grocery but this is closer to where I stay)
The building also sells electronics souvenirs… Staff is always friendly and all El Corte branches make sure they have English speaking staff on duty if you need the help.
It is fun (for me at least) to shop in the Spanish grocery store and see all that they have. I like this one for convenience and they have some good buys on their own branded foods. But I went to the big Cerrefour for stocking up as El Corte is kind of expensive for groceries.

From a department store perspective, this place is pretty great. We found everything we were looking for here and prices were fairly reasonable. From a food perspective, we were pretty underwhelmed. Our Madrid card included coupons for tapas and wine here, but we didn’t really like any of it so we didn’t use the second set. Location was excellent though, super convenient to a lot of stuff so we could easily pop in if we needed anything.

WOAH, this place is pretty awesome. Let’s be clear, I am in love with this place because it’s: A) SPANISH and B) a really awesome department store in a foreign country. El Corte Ingles has everything, including TWO grocery stores. One of the grocery stores is your typical place with regular foodstuffs; the OTHER grocery store is entirely organic and awesome. There’s a deli, bakery, etc. down there, too, so you can shop to your heart’s content.
Then, you go up to the upper levels and you have everything. Drugstore, clothes, cosmetics, perfumes, housewares… basically a giant department store with a normal, functioning grocery store in the lowest level. See: Monoprix in France.
Prices are good, service is friendly and there’s enough people who understand my poor Spanish and English to make transactions easy and quick. Spend some time in here just to look around and see what’s offered. The bookstore is huge, too.

This is one of the main departments stores with many locations throughout the bigger cities in Spain. When I was in Madrid this summer, I visited Corte Ingles while I was killing some time in the city and waiting for my return flight home.
This is unlike any department store I have seen in the states, it’s very impressive as it’s 5 stories tall and has everything from electronics and shoes to beauty supplies and clothes for people of all ages. They tend to carry more high end brands. As others have mentioned, tourists receive 10% discount by showing passport to the customer service desk. I bought a pair of comfy walking sneakers here the first time I came as we were doing alot of walking through the city and my shoes just weren’t cutting it. The sales woman who helped me decide which shoes were the best choice for me was nice and was even patient when i had to ask her to repeat herself a few times. I speak Spanish pretty well, but as it’s not my first language sometimes it’s a bit difficult to understand them chatting away so quickly like she was at first.
This was a really fun place, lots of cool stuff to look at, and you could get lost in here for hours. Highly recommended.

Hier kann Mann auch noch interessantes finden, während Frau Schuhe und sonstiges guckt.
Die Auswahl ist umfangreicher als in den kleinen Geschäften ringsum, kann aber nicht mit einem großen Karstadt mithalten. Dafür gibts halt spanische Besonderheiten zu kaufen.
Interessant sind Sonderangebote. So gibts ab und zu 10% Rabatt für Touristen. Im dritten Stock muss man dafür eine kleine Karte bei der Touristen-​Kasse abholen, die einen Tag gültig ist. Personalausweis nicht vergessen! Der muss bei den anderen Kassen gezeigt werden. Mit der Karte gibt es dann den Rabatt auf fast alles, außer Elektro.
Im letzten Stockwerk ist das Café. Hoher Preis, mittelmäßige Qualität. Geht trotzdem hin, denn das ist nun der Qype-​Tipp: 1A Aussicht über die Dächer Madrids, wenig los selbst am Samstag, so dass man auch einen schönen Tisch am Fenster findet.

2 stars just for the concept. I LOVE department stores normally, but this one is taking what the local butchers and abbotoires do best and ‘butchering’ it (haha — get it?)
I think there are some great finds you can get in here, but it honestly makes me miss that Spanish charm of going to the different local merchants for different needs. It’s just Americanized, and not surprisingly, most of the people I bumped into around here were tourists. I spoke to some classmates who were back in Madrid from Murcia for the holidays, and they detest this store.
If a big department store is what you’re looking for, hop on over to UK and check out Harvey Nichs.
It was such a shame wandering around to see so many of my local faves closed down or out of business, I can’t help but wonder how much of that is owing to these stores.

Truly HUGE department store in the middle of Madrid, I think they pretty much offer everything… however, this is a (relatively) upscale department store, they don’t carry any discount brands, probably like a Tommy Hilfiger is the cheapest thing they have. But not really a lot of discounts, and with the Euro the way it is… skip the shopping until you get back to the US. The airline has lost our luggage, so I was trying to buy an emergency outfit for myself, but at 2x prices… hey, the stuff I’m wearing isn’t that dirty, is it? (Try H&M right across the street, much cheaper though pretty focused on women’s clothing, but they do have some guys stuff)

Quick Tip: 10% discount for tourists if you take your passport to their tourist office and get a tourist pass.
This is one of Madrid’s main department stores. It is very similar to our Macy’s but with a grocery store in the basement. There are several buildings of El Corte Ingles right next to each other. Each building is designated for specific needs i.e. 1 building is for appliances, 1 for electronics (cell phones, comp, DVDs, CDs, etc), and the other for clothing, fragrance counters and grocery store. It is a very nice department store. Most of the sales clerks are very friendly and helpful. Once again there is a language barrier. The concierge speaks a little English and would be able to direct you to the right department. I purchased all of my Madrid souvenirs from this store.

El Corte Inglés S.A. (English: The English Cut as in tailor’s cut) is Spain’s only remaining department store chain, as well as owner of several associated businesses. The primary flagship store for the chain is located in Madrid at 79, Raimundo Fernández Villaverde Street. It encompasses several buildings and carries the most comprehensive collection of designers of any large store in Spain.
I briefly coaxed Gayle into one building of the Madrid Complex sometime during the evening before Día de la Hispanidad. El Corte Inglés was also close to the Hotel, so why not? I don’t recall what I was looking for, but I remember the entire place to be packed with people. We walked and shopped around, but left relatively quickly. After all, we didn’t come to Spain to spend too much time in a large equivalent of Macy’s. And as Gayle and I later traveled through Bilboa, San Sebastian, Girona, or Barcelona, there was a El Corte Inglés around just in case we changed our mind.
Yet, there’s a grocery store in the basement and one always needs wine and nibbles on the road…

Although I happen to think that this monster department store is a joke it is somewhere I can be found visiting at least two times a week for whatever reason simply because it is what I’ve got close to home. It is truly unfortunate that if you live smack dab in the city center chances are this is where you’re obliged to do most of your grocery shopping (unless you have a car) along with whatever else, in other words, between the ginormous CI in Sol and the huge one in Callao, you have something like 14 (!) floors of stuff to consume: post office, little pharmacy, pet store, furniture, take away food, socks, travel agency, motorcycle helmets, designer clothes, oven cleaner, and the list goes on.
Yes, you can find most things that you need (and that you don’t need) but you are going to pay the price, both literally and figuratively. Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it’s because I’ve got a nasty cold and am under the influence of over the counter cold medicine, but the customer service here is spotty, at best. I’ve experienced the extremes. Either the salesperson is obsequious or, as is usually the case, the individual or group of «marujas» (housewives, gossiping usually) wearing the black and white store uniform could care less whether you’re there to buying tooth paste or a fur coat. I think that the most attentive and helpful salespeople all live on the 6^th floor of the Callao CI. The ladies of the pet department, which has an extensive stock of most of the best pet foods on the market, are courteous. And the gentlemen across the way in the ferreteria (hardware department) are very kind and helpful. Otherwise, it’s very hit and miss. It’s as though one of the top qualifications to be a store employee is «must be hopelessly grumpy and disinterested». Just today, in the papeleria (paper) department in the Sol store, I had to interupt «pardon me, excuse me, sorry to bother you» 2 different groups of employees (total of 8) having heated discussions about god knows what, just to ask a simple question «Do you have paper for business cards?». And at last being able to penetrate the pow-​wows, 3 different employees shot me down without letting me finish my question. Carlin, here I come.

When visiting Spain, since most international travelers fly into and out of Madrid, this is the best «one-​stop» shopping in the heart of the downtown area and therefore probably near the hotel where you’ll be staying.
This retail giant dominates in Spain where there are no comparable stores that offer such a wide range of products. You can shop at the supermarket, buy all types of clothing, gifts, or practically anything else on your shopping list all without leaving this multi-​level Spanish answer to the American Shopping Mall. Rather than 100 different stores in Mall format, this store takes all that inventory and puts it under one roof so that rather than go from one store to another, you merely go from one floor to another.