One of the oldest shops in the Eixample will close its doors very soon after 109 years on Calle Manso. The Casa Gallofré knitwear store began working here in the Sant Antoni neighborhood just a few months before the Gasca fashion store, which still operates on the other side of the market, and a few years after the hardware store did. Valls.
And on the other side of the Casa Gallofré counter, they detail that they cannot assume the increase in rent, but that they in no way hold the owner of the premises responsible for the end of their business. “The owner was very good to us during the pandemic,” they stress. The origin of the problem is new customs, internet sales, people's priorities today... Little by little our activity lost its space”.
“And, well, the truth is that many of our clients were dying, little by little, and also that the virus left us very touched, and that when it came down to it, the administrations did not help us, they simply postponed payments… and What's more, lately cotton has gone up in price a lot, and in these times people look at their pockets in a different way, they prefer to spend their money in a different way, going away for the weekend and stuff”.
The truth is that in recent months the trickle of closing shops with decades of history behind them seems to be accelerating. We are talking about Granja Montsant, very close, also here in the Eixample, the J. Batlle Horta stationery store, on Via Laietana, the Brusi bar in the Gòtic quarter...
And behind many of these goodbyes there is not an evil investment fund that took over the farm, but fatigue, the lack of generational relief, the slow loss of that role that the business in question played in their neighborhood. "Yes, well, many are not aware of the hours that have to be spent behind the counter to get this off the ground, and if on top of that little by little you see that people prefer other things...".
The Casa Gallofré rental contract will end in November, but those still in charge of this business think that they will close much earlier, as soon as they liquidate most of their stocks.
“These days are being bittersweet. Since we put up the liquidation due to closure sign, people have not stopped coming to ask us what is wrong with us…” “And also to wish us the best”. "It's a shame... here we already have four generations."
