Corte Ingles (El), Madrid

As a first time traveler to Europe and Spain, the city of Madrid was a wonderful place to visit. It was suggested that we go in the Corte Ingles while we were on Arenal street, which leads from Puerto del Sol to the Opera house and has many authentic shops and restaurants. After visiting the store however, the advice would be to walk past the Corte Ingles...it leaves a bad impression. While the store offerings are vast, the sales clerks were very unfriendly and went so far as to noticablely avoid us and talk in Spanish about the "Americans" in our presence. While we don't speak much of the language, we were pleasant and interested shoppers and tried to communicate. We were followed but not offered any assistance. In a capital city it would seem that encouraging foreign visitors to spend their Euros would be the goal but the "superior" attitude of sales staff, none the less, is totally off-putting. This is not the impression of Madrid that should be put forth in place that is advertised as a place to visit. If you are looking for beautiful, quality Spanish goods, patronize the smaller, privately owned shops that are abudant around the Corte Engles in this area of Madrid where our business was invited and appreciated.

This store rocks and the people were awesome. It really was a shopping experience. Definitely a must if you like to shop overseas.

I love it so much.you can find anything you need or even don't need but you see and you can't buy it.Everything is gathered in one place and there isn't something that you want and no find.It is unique.

It's just a department store. Nothing special, but the street it is on is something else. The street is Arenal and it leads from Puerto del Sol to the Opera house and is full of shops and restaurants. The street is a pedestrian walkway but some cars sneak bye.

A superb shopping experience. Shame it's not open on Sunday. All the designer brands laid out efficiently and clearly. Very helpful staff. I am trying to find out if one can buy from there on the internet........