Marijuana shops make their way along the main streets of Barcelona's Gothic Quarter. This is another example of the commercial monoculture associated with the mass tourism that affects this side of the city so much, another manifestation of the decline of the commercial fabric of the center of the city. All this was the result of a storm. Shake real estate pressure in a shaker, municipal restrictions on the opening of many businesses, the laws of supply and demand and a bloody virus and you will see how...
These cannabis-related product shops are no longer confined to less succulent back streets. Before the pandemic, on the Rambla, there were none, and now there are six. In Ferran we also find a pair open in this strange era, and in his appendix of Jaume I a third. And in Portaferrisa, Comtal and Pi there are another four, also recent. And in all the Gòtic, about twenty.
One of the pioneers of this sector is the businessman Kumar Ramchandani. A couple of decades ago he set up a couple of stalls mainly selling earrings and piercings, and also products related to cannabis, in that gallery known as El Camello. But the pandemic put an end to this renowned Gòtic establishment. In truth, then, for years, El Camello had been limping down.
“So I set up a shop for cannabis-related products in Ferran, next door, and later, as it went well for me, because the public for these shops is getting wider, with a partner, two others on the Rambla. .. and now, well, a few days ago I opened this one, because the truth is that in the center of Barcelona you can't open anything else. Between the rents and the restrictions of the City Council, it is only worth opening this type of business”.
Eight thousand euros a month, plus VAT, for this little room... emphasizes Ramchandani, showing the small place, among pipes, seeds, crushers, electronic cigarettes, other pre-rolled ones, air fresheners, trinkets and many more items related to cannabis. Does anyone from Do you really think that you can pay such rent by selling loaves of bread? In any case, no product for sale here has a toxic load. And some of these shops look like luxury real estate, others gift shops, toy stores and knick-knacks, and quite a few are so overloaded that one fears an epileptic attack will come over them... The fact is that most of them have a florist license, because of the seeds, and a few from the gift shop.
“If I could set up a bar, yes,” continues Ramchandani, on the other side of the counter, “... but the City Council is very strict. They don't let you sell takeout either. And I was also in the souvenir sector, but lately the pressure from the inspectors has been constant. For them, everything that Barcelona puts on, even a Barça shirt, is a souvenir, and they don't stop inspecting you. Actually they only let you open T-shirt shops, but there are so many already… Right now the only thing worth opening in the center are cannabis shops.”
The merchants of a lifetime lament the proliferation of these businesses, after the stores of T-shirts with illustrations of Snow White snorting cocaine. Lluís Manuel, from the Toni Pons espadrille shop, a family business that dates back to the 1960s, says that these establishments, one and the other, are scaring away what is known as quality tourism, and also the people of the city . “He prefers to go shopping in other axes. In addition, since these stores pay such high rents, they increase the real estate pressure on the rest. They become a wild card for the owners. We have no room for manoeuvre. Let's go with water up to our necks. The truth is I do not understand".
“We are the owners of our premises,” says Ángela Calvet, from Bolsos Calpa, another family business with five decades in the Gòtic–. We endure because we are outside of real estate pressure, and because many people from the city know us. But the spirit of the old town has already been spoiled. We are attracting people who are not interested. The pandemic accelerated this degradation.” “They are prostituting the center of the city,” says Enric Moj, from Belles Artes Ferran, very angry. Here what they do is launder money, and the administrations do nothing to prevent it. We are losing part of Barcelona's heritage, and it seems that it doesn't matter”. "El Gòtic is losing its singularity, its identity, its history...", they lamented in Barnacentre, the main association of merchants in the neighborhood.
Yes, Ferran's 7 had not been used for two years. The emblematic La Estrella pharmacy worked here. The disagreements around the rent ended with a story that started in 1840. “We are respecting the floors, the shelves and the signs –says Ramchandani– five months of paperwork with the City Council! but I couldn't take it anymore. We open this weekend, to take advantage of the pull of Easter... It's 8,000 euros plus VAT!
In any case, Ramchandani will still have to wait a little longer to balance his accounts. Municipal sources say that these circumstances do not excuse him to open without all the permits. “This business opened without an activity or building license requested. The Ciutat Vella district studies the taxable measures and requires that they carry out the corresponding procedures. In the meantime it should be closed." So that on the 7th of Ferran, yesterday afternoon, after taking advantage of the Easter break, it closed again. This is how the inspectors found it when they went to make sure.
