The association of residents and merchants of the Rambla asks the government of Mayor Jaume Collboni to develop a contingency plan that will alleviate the inconveniences of the works of the expected reform of the promenade. Amics de la Rambla warns that the opportunists are already there, hunkering down, as they did during the hardest moments of the pandemic, waiting for the economic losses that the machines usually bring to leave a few stores free and thus be able to open new ones. cheap souvenir shops, t-shirts with rude messages, trinkets made with cannabis derivatives...
Recently, Barcelona City Council technicians explained details about the works plan to merchants. “In June, a couple of companies will begin work on the Barri Gòtic side,” says Fermín Villar, from Amics de la Rambla, “one up and the other down, in sections of about 50 meters, for about ten months. Then, in April of next year, they will do the same on the Raval neighborhood side, for ten months. And then they will carry out the work on the central section, in this case, for about twelve months.”
That meeting unleashed the restlessness of the merchants. “We still don't know how they plan to alleviate the consequences of these works on the economic activity of the promenade,” Villar explains. Nor did they tell us what will happen to the florists when work on the central section of the Rambla starts, to give an example. We hope that the City Council will soon develop a contingency plan. Here on the Rambla the balance is very delicate. The consequences of 37 months of works can be much worse than those of the pandemic. During the pandemic there was direct financial aid. Furthermore, in this sense, the first works of the reform are not at all promising.”
The merchants complain that the first works still underway in the lower part of the promenade have already ruined the last season of the businesses installed there, and that if no one closed their doors it was thanks to the good will of the construction managers, who They made it easy to relocate their terraces as the work progressed, and they also agreed to adapt to the needs of the businesses. Here in the lower part those affected are some of the few restaurants on the Rambla that do not plant huge posters in the middle of the promenade with photos of paellas and patatas bravas and also gigantic brightly colored glasses.
“The forecasts of the commons when they ran the City Council denote their little affinity with the commerce of the Rambla,” continues Villar, trying to be diplomatic. They did not do any planning for the consequences of the works. The attitude of Mayor Collboni's executive is different, from the first moment. We thank him for shortening the construction schedule and also for his attitude towards us, but it is not enough. What do you plan to do with the florists, the artists, the statues, the terraces...? We must now consider the temporary relocations of many activities, even those of the former birdkeepers! And it is not that we are asking for direct financial aid, but we are asking for some details. Here for a premises of about 250 m2 you can pay about 2,000 euros per quarter in IBI. On La Rambla the balance between expenses and income is very delicate.” And in these situations, those who are most likely to get hurt are those who do not place huge posters and gigantic glasses in the middle of the walk.
The last establishment that opened on the Rambla was another store selling cannabis-related products. The Discount 2 store is divided into two parts, one offers sweets with psychoactive properties at a price much lower than the competition, and the other, above all, cell phone cases. They are on the corner with Escudellers street. There are now seven cannabis-related product stores in operation on La Rambla. Before the pandemic, none were counted.
“Yes – confirms the representative of Amics de la Rambla –, the last business to open was this store selling cannabis-related products. In reality what they have done is divide a premises. We already notified the City Council. In principle you cannot make several commercial premises in one. And surely the City Council acts. He always does. And it forces them to normalize the situation. But then it will have paid off. The rhythms of the picaresque are more agile than those of bureaucracy.”
A few meters further down is the penultimate store of this type that opened its doors on the Rambla. It is also called Discount 2 – in this case, with the background of the poster being red. Apparently they wanted to set up a convenience store, a supermarket with bottles of sangria in the shape of a bull, but the plan of uses of the promenade does not allow it, so they divided the premises into four spaces: cannabis, cell phones, gifts and a little all.
The phenomenon illustrates how since the outbreak of the virus, opportunists have tried to leave secondary commercial routes behind and settle in other main ones, such as Ferran, Comtal, Portaferrissa... and also La Rambla. The key is that the efforts to start a business selling cannabis-related products, t-shirts with rude messages or cheap souvenirs are less difficult than to set up another type of establishment, and thus one can get more out of the progressive rents as typical of tourist hubs.
If after a few months the bills don't work out, you just have to find another location and start again. Those who set up a bookstore, a hat shop or a stationery store struggle more. And since the pandemic, the interest of investment funds in commercial premises on this side of the city has been multiplying. They are an alternative to vertically owned residential buildings. Their offers tempt owners in times of uncertainty. The problem is that the money for these funds comes from so far away that they care little about the characteristics of the businesses run by the premises they buy. And so, little by little, the t-shirt with the image of Snow White snorting cocaine becomes one of the most popular souvenirs in Barcelona.
