On Sunday April 23rd It is not included in the dates on which stores are generally authorized to open in Catalonia this 2023. The City Council of Barcelona has explained this week that the commercial unions did not request to include the day of Sant Jordi when they had the opportunity before assigning themselves the ten dates on which the Generalitat and the consistory allow establishments to serve the public on holidays this year. “No one saw that April 23 fell on a Sunday,” said the Councilor for Commerce, Montserrat Ballarin (PSC), who added that the Government did not give the option of adding an eleventh additional opening day once those allowed by law have been chosen. However the Company Department He responds that there is still a loophole so that businesses can open without restriction in Barcelona coinciding with the day of the book and the rose, when thousands of visitors flock to the Catalan capital.
“If the city council approves it and notifies us, the calendar of commercial openings on holidays can be modified to include April 23, but always in exchange for giving up another of the 10 days already chosen,” says the general director of Commerce. , Jordi Torrades, to THE NEWSPAPER. As Ballarín recounted, Torrades corroborates that the commercial associations did not ask to incorporate Sant Jordi between the holidays with generalized commercial opening. They did not claim it in the advisory council of the Generalitat in which eight Sundays and holidays are agreed, nor when the consistory consulted to determine two more days.
Exception to the rule
Torrades points out that the city council is empowered to modify two days of the eight openings that the Generalitat stipulates for all of Catalonia, provided that the proposed date replaces another already selected. “But opening in addition to the 10 days that the law allows is not possible& rdquor ;, wields the general director. The Generalitat stated this to the city council in a recent consultation informal in case it was possible exception for Sant Jordi.
The proposal for businesses in general to be accessible for Sant Jordi comes from the employers’ association Barcelona Open, which brings together the commercial hubs of the city center. The association requests that a exceptionality to the norm, when Sant Jordi falls on a Sunday, and that establishments lacking coverage to open without limit on Sundays and holidays can do so on April 23, without giving up the other 10 days of rest that they are empowered to serve customers.
In any case, Barcelona Oberta plans to consult the presidents of the associated axes this Thursday to find out if they prefer to sacrifice one of the holidays agreed with commercial opening in exchange for taking advantage of the Sant Jordi festival. The holidays are concentrated around Christmas: one has already sold out (January 8) and two are pending next November (days 1 and 26) and seven more in December (days 3, 6, 8, 10, 17, 24 and 31).
Without effect
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Barcelona Oberta considers that not granting an exception for April 23 harms stores in the center of the capital, where the crowd comes to stroll between the stands of books and roses. On the other hand, Torrades believes that replacing a working holiday for establishments for Sant Jordi “would have practically no effect& rdquor; for the majority of the local commercial fabric of Barcelona.
“All stores of less than 300 square meters can open on Sundays and holidays that they want, the bookstores they can do it the weekend of April 22 and 23, just like the florists, which can be open all year round…”, lists the general manager. In this sense, he indicates that the bulk of the stores will be able to open without hindrance for book day, also the bookstores and florists that are inside shopping centers. If there is no change, large stores and stores of more than 300 meters will not raise the blind for Sant Jordi.