We can trace business operations of the Bata Company on the territory of today´s Israel to 1927, when a company store was opened. The establishment of a sister company followed in 1931. A year later, there was a significant network of own shops, still operating in 1939.
- In 1927 Bata was selling shoes in his own shop in Jerusalem
- The export of Bata´s shoes to the territory of the former British Mandate Palestine since the late 1920s was constantly increasing: 10,000 pairs (in 1928), 30,000 pairs (in 1930), 132,000 pairs (in 1932), 112,000 (in 1937)
- In 1931 Tomas Bata set up Palestine Bata Shoe Comp. Ltd, Haifa; The company organised storage and sales of its products and employed 26 workers in the area
- In 1932, Bata opened 12 stores in eight cities – Jerusalem, Tel. Aviv, Tiberias, Haifa, Jaffa Safed, Zihron Ya’akov, Nazareth, Petah Tikva; in 1939 shops operated in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Tiberias, Petah Tikva, Jaffa, Hadera
Sources:
- Bohumil Lehár, Dějiny Baťova koncernu, Praha 1960
- Moravský zemský archiv v Brně – Státní okresní archiv Zlín, Česko