In October 1884, José González Padín, an enterprising merchant, Spanish by birth, opened a jewelry store in a location on Calle Fortaleza at Old San Juan.

Ladies in crinoline skirts and men with curling mustaches came in horse-drawn carriages to visit this great new bazaar of novelties.

Thus becoming the first González Padín store featuring large glass windows: in those days it was considered a revolution in the construction of commercial facades.

For this reason it was baptized by the public as "the glass corner.” Cash registers were added, and it now had, its main attraction, the first electrical advertisement in any store in Puerto Rico.

[4] In 1923, at a cost of $750,000, González Padín would move to a new building which was built in the Main Plaza of San Juan, and would open their flagship store which became the "First Commercial Skyscraper" in Puerto Rico.

[8] On November 18, 1960, a 69,000 square foot store at a cost of $1,500,000 million dollars, would open at the stop 20 on Ponce de León avenue in Santurce.

Facilities included a parking area for 100 cars, a background music system on all three floors, a soda fountain, and rest rooms.

[9] On October 28, 1967, it was announced that González Padín had signed a multi-million dollar lease for a 2-story, 76,500 square foot building in Plaza Las Américas shopping mall.

[10] On September 12, 1968, the biggest store at the time in the chain would open at the Plaza las Américas shopping mall in San Juan, with 2-levels of 78,000 square feet.

That week the contract was signed between the well-known department store González Padín, Inc., and the gigantic Plaza del Caribe Shopping Center, which was scheduled to begin construction in Ponce by January 1977.

This was jointly announced by the owners of Plaza del Caribe, González Padín and the Kislak Realty Corporation, the firm in charge of commercial contracts in the regional shopping center at the time.

The store was on the center of the Plaza Carolina shopping mall and opened to it on two levels, allowing the public access to both, the first floor, as for the second.

This was the most complete hardware store that existed at the Plaza Carolina shopping mall, offering its prestigious products to the public, such as: Sherwin Williams paints, Kohler bathroom pieces, and the Schlage locks.

[25] On November 24, 1989, Axxents was inaugurated in the Plaza Las Américas shopping mall, a new store of the González Padín & Co., which specialized in the sale of fragrances, beauty supplies and accessories - for both women and men - along with a skin care treatment center.

The blessing of the new premises was in charge of Father Jaime Vázquez, from the Cathedral of San Juan and personal friend of Ricardo F. González.

ultra-modern, by the way - gave a certain air of exclusivity to this store where products from renowned companies such as Elizabeth Arden, Estée Lauder, Clinique, Lancôme, and Erno Laszlo were sold.

[32] On October 31, 1995, it was finally reported that the over hundred-year-old Puerto Rican department store chain González Padín had announced, the total cessation of its operations, due to economic problems.

González indicated that the company could not overcome the serious economic problems that it had faced for several years, due to the competition of other stores on the island.

"In the middle of this year we thought we would save the situation by selling to the Dillard's chain, but these efforts failed for reasons beyond our control," González said.