"500 euros! Who says 600? 650! 700! Anyone give more? Lot 27 sold to the man in the gray t-shirt." While on the ground floor the shopkeepers compete for lots in the auctions early in the morning, on the upper floor the owners of the stalls raise their blinds and set up their merchandise before opening time to the public. 10 years after its opening in the avant-garde design property, its influx has increased to 60,000 weekly visits in relation to the 90,000 it received in its previous location on Dos de Maig street, between Consell de Cent and Plaça de las Glòries. Currently, 2.1 million people a year attend the market according to the Barcelona Municipal Market Institute, almost 4 times less than what the City Council estimated in 2013, after its inauguration in the new premises. Likewise, the influx to the market is uneven in terms of its distribution: those affected are the paradistas of the upper level, who in turn pay more taxes for their commerce.
Garafi, one of them, has been selling antique lamps and telephones on the market for more than 50 years when these devices were fashionable. As soon as the City Council presented the proposal to move the market to another location, which ensured shelter from the rain and sun, Garafi did not hesitate to accept the offer. For five years, according to the merchant, he paid a monthly fee of 230 euros to get his new stop in Encants. “I was excited because it would be having my own premises, until I noticed that up here, more precisely in this last aisle, people don't come that close,” explains Garafi, who joins the trend of other merchants in putting their business up for transfer because “maintaining it is no longer worth it.”
"Choose? No, rather they were assigned by items, and it has not affected the antique dealers here,” mentions José Robles, another salesman in the aisle. “There is more people on the ground floor, but they can't guarantee that what they sell works, I can,” adds the merchant while he points to an old wall clock, which he has bought from a shopkeeper to set up. This is one of the daily dynamics that makes it easier for the market to function, despite the fact that some merchants perceive an unequal situation compared to the stalls on the ground floor, especially in the payment of taxes and higher fees.
The contributions that the 275 commercial stalls must pay to the City Council, regulated by the Market Tax Ordinance, levy the rate of use of the stalls at 5.55 euros per month per square meter. “These are prices well below the costs of a store in a shopping center or a commercial rental,” argues Genís Arnàs Páez, head of markets at the Municipal Institute of Mercats of Barcelona. The calculation of expenses for a stall of 8 square meters shows a rate of 44.4 euros as a user fee, according to information provided by the council. To that figure must be added the garbage rate, the proportion of electricity, cleaning and maintenance, which totals 115 final euros.
“This month I will pay 348 euros in expenses,” says Garafi while pointing to the paper with the City Council letterhead that details the figure. “Although surely having a public establishment on the street is more expensive, for the profits we have it is a high cost,” adds José Robles, who has a larger stall. “Before they saw an old lamp and valued it for its details, now they just want it to be cheap, but when they come to sell they want to be paid a fortune for the history they have,” says Garafi, who has resorted to breaking up most of the artifacts. to sell their parts as spare parts and thus make more profit.
On the contrary, the mirrored aluminum and zinc roof of the market reflects the swarm of people that the shopkeepers' area becomes when it opens its doors. “Here you can find treasures, but you have to be one of the first to come if you want to get something good,” says Pepe Ruiz, a collector of civil war documents, who comes to review the auctioned lots every week for at least two days, after his night shift as a nurse, instead of returning to his home in Cornellà to rest. Near him, a woman looks for pieces of diamonds. “I'm getting married and I'm looking for something to decorate,” says the woman who emigrated from Ukraine a little over a year ago and the market is a place that allows her to look for what she needs without having to speak Spanish. Meanwhile, another woman shakes her hands to remove the dust left by some white glass globe lamps. “I always come and look for nothing, here you find what you find, it's a hobby,” she says.
Notably, in the shopkeepers' area the situation is different from the upper floor: many people pass by there and sales are certain. Brahim Granni has been participating in the market for 12 years and for him nothing has changed. “Today I got a lot for 1,000 euros at the auction and I think I will be able to get 3,000 bucks at the end of the day,” says the shopkeeper. Granni sells to curious regulars and regular customers, she even makes online sales via WhatsApp. Within 15 minutes of purchasing the goods, he has already recovered half of the investment and keeps more than half of his merchandise.
On auction days, only the owners of the plots have the right to enter goods and must pay a fee of 2.5% of the auctioned value as the only fee. More than 100 buyers (shopkeepers) are registered in the market and authorized to compete for the 39 lots and stay to sell the lot they have acquired, with the premise that at the end of the day the plot must be empty.
“The ground floor attracts because you never know what you will find and every day we open there is new merchandise,” Granni argues, relating why this area is more attractive than the upper floor. Over time, Brahim has learned what counts and what doesn't within a lot. In the eyes of someone outside the business, the lots may mean pure rubbish, but the shopkeepers know that there is always someone who will be interested in one of those objects.
