The merchants of the Boqueria market want the Barcelona City Council to open as soon as possible the 20 stalls of this municipal market that have remained closed for years. The shopkeepers understand that in this way the supply of equipment could be enriched and also improve their relationship with Plaza Gardunya, opening up a little more to the Raval and the rest of the city.
This is an old demand of merchants that gains strength again with the arrival of Jaume Collboni to the mayor's office. Here, in La Boqueria, many believe that this new stage can degrease relations with the City Council.
The PSC government takes note of the merchants' requests with great caution, but agrees to review a roadmap marked out a few years ago, so many that it already seems blurry.
In the last Economy commission, the socialist executive accepted a request from Junts for “the City Council to urgently activate an action plan for the closed market stalls, and report on the negotiations made with the merchants interested in them. At the moment more than 10% of the Boqueria stalls are closed.” In total, this facility has 185 stalls and a dozen bars in addition to the dozen installed on the porches.
Jordi Mas, president of the merchants' association, and Óscar Ubide, manager of the market, say that with the remodeling that a couple of decades ago transformed the parking lot of the premises into Gardunya Square, the Boqueria set up five stalls in front of the new space that had never been came into operation. The merchants want the City Council to call a public competition in order to dedicate them to restoration and tasting and to plant a few tables and chairs in the square.
In this city, planting terraces is always controversial, but according to merchants, these uses would contribute to recovering this corner of the Raval that residents commonly try to leave behind as soon as possible. They argue that the one on Rambla has always been the gateway for tourists, and the one on Gardunya has always been the gateway for Barcelonans, and that in this way the sides and the farmers' stalls will also be revitalized. Apparently, a few well-known longtime restaurateurs are willing to take the risk if the administration makes it easy for them. “A pastry shop could open, for example. “The market doesn’t have any.” “It is urgent to give new life to the square.” “It wouldn't hurt to consider another type of closure at the back, instead of the current gates that isolate us from Gardunya.”
One of the objectives of the Collboni government for this mandate is to rebuild the coexistence of this square. Lately, its ecosystem is basically made up of globetrotters who spend the day drinking and tourists who buy paellas, skewers and other pre-cooked dishes from the stalls.
La Boqueria is also the largest take away in Catalonia. No other place offers so much food skewered on sticks. The neighbor feels that he is in lost territory, that he has no business there. At the fish stalls, merchants ask tourists trying to take selfies with the lobsters not to touch their claws.
Some candles could at any given moment liven up the Gardunya, and could also enhance the great picnic area that it became. Here the laws of supply and demand and her free will have these consequences. The violent disputes between seagulls and pigeons over the remains of tourists' food attest to this. Hence municipal prudence.
But the Boqueria merchants believe that a strict competition could renew the market's offering. For this reason, they also ask the City Council to reactivate as soon as possible the fifteen positions that are unused in the corridors. We are talking about positions recovered successively by the City Council since 2017 to one day eliminate them and open a third internal plaza that oxygenates the premises. Most of these stalls were dedicated to fresh produce.
The merchants' association understands that the City Council is wasting an opportunity, that these stalls could host quality bets that combine fresh produce and takeaway food, which the operation of some market stalls shows is possible. In any case, they have no choice but to admit that the administration's control of the Boqueria's supply is complicated, that in reality choosing one side or the other depends above all on the will of the merchant. The tentacles of the skewer are long.
“In this mandate, contacts have already begun with merchants to agree on a future plan for La Boqueria,” municipal sources added. The closed stalls are part of a plan agreed upon with merchants in 2017 to reorganize the market's commercial mix and generate spaces that improve its circulation. Thus, two internal spaces have already been created, the cooking classroom and a new fish area. The purpose of the positions now without activity is to have spaces to continue this reorganization.” In any case, municipal sources conclude, contacts with merchants will help specify the definitive uses of these stands.”
