It is not only a chronicle of a death announced in historic places in Barcelona. The plague has also arrived in Vallès, and specifically in Terrassa. The prestigious music store Casa Farràs, led by the musician and trumpeter Josep Maria Farràs, has announced that it will lower its blinds at the end of September after more than a century of activity.
Founded by his father in 1916, the establishment closes “because it is economically unsustainable, given the strong competition for the sale of instruments over the Internet. We already began to notice it in the pandemic and now it is very hard. With online purchases, they save 50 euros, at most, but they don't see that they are destroying local businesses, ”he argues. Until closing, it is liquidation of stocks.
Throughout the century, this store has established itself as a place of reference for professional, amateur and student musicians. “In the best moments we sold 300 pianos a year, some grand. But, in recent years, we have only sold electric keyboards, some wall-mounted digital piano, flutes for school, guitars, books and sheet music… It doesn't go far enough”, he describes.
At 81 years old and without generational relief from his children, Farràs has two employees, but the balance is negative. “I will be able to pay you until September, but I am forced to close. We have encountered the audacity of people who come to try out the pianos and, without leaving the store, they are already buying it online”, he exemplifies.
He claims to be “very burnt out” with these consumer attitudes: “One day a person called us telling us: they brought me a piano, but they left it on the street and not assembled. I reply: but, has he bought it from us? 'No, in Germany'. But being a technical service for the brand, he asked us: can you upload it and assemble it for me? He replied: "We can help you, but this service costs 150 euros." “He tells me that he will upload it and he will ride it. What happened? Well, he didn't put the pedals on correctly, nor did he know how to balance it and, in the end, I had to charge him more to save it because the man had made a mess. If he had bought it from us from the beginning, everything would have gone well because what sets us apart from the internet is personalized attention ”, defends Farràs.
Unlike other historical ones that have lowered the blind due to the increase in rent, Casa Farràs is owned by you. The musician was born upstairs, where, as a child, he lived with his parents. It is a space full of stories with soul and rhythm. "When my father inaugurated it, he had a bit of everything: bags, umbrellas, shirts, perfumes, phonographs... The first day a string viola was sold", according to what he has documented. It was also the first place in Terrassa where the BBC could be heard, in 1921 (before the founding of Radio Barcelona, in 1924). “He installed a huge antenna!”, he recalls, excited.
“The basement –closed years ago due to humidity– housed the first jazz cellar in the city and was a space for protests, in the midst of the dictatorship. “It was a small place, it could accommodate about 40 people. Tete Montoliu played and Raimon performed and even held a rally, ”he points out. Farràs has been an amateur trumpeter and, in the first years in charge of the store, he combined it with his performances: "One summer I got to do 32 bowling." His passion for jazz led him to found, with other fans, the Nova Jazz Cava de Terrassa, which is experiencing a splendid moment. He will continue to be linked to music, with his trumpet as the guiding thread of good vibrations.
