The city council recovers the award for the best establishments after two years of hiatus. They also have an award for a sustainable bulk store and a market greengrocer that allows the sale in ‘streaming’
What do a laundromat have in common where you can have a drink while doing your laundry, a neighborhood drugstore, the century-old Granja Viader, a greengrocer’s market that sells online with live videos, and a large bulk store where the buyer is provided with reusable? They are all in Barcelona and this wednesday night have become winners of the Barcelona Trade Awards 2022 after two years of hiatus due to the pandemic. Its protagonists, together with six other establishments or entities, have prevailed in the different categories with which the city council recognizes a sector that after suffer the effects of the health crisisis now dealing with a difficult price increase on its products and supplies.
In essence, the objective of this initiative that began in 1997 is to recognize the labor who are behind the counters of the thousands of businesses in the city day after day, selecting the “best” of the year. The gala of the 23rd edition at the Drassanes Reials, has brought together numerous merchants, associations and representatives of the sector, with the incentive that Added new awards such as Emblematic Trade. The mayor has not been able to attend at the last minute Colau, but the first deputy mayor, Jaume Collboni, and the Councilor for Commerce, Montse Ballarín, have done so.
Promoting the emblematic ones is fair, taking into account the particular war for survival that the most traditional businesses in the city are experiencing and that has claimed many casualties during the pandemic. The chosen one this year has been the viader farm from Carrer de Xuclà, whose history began in 1870 when Rafaela Coma opened a dairy that would end up being an iconic farm. From there came the Cacaolat patented in 1931 by Marc Viader, (founder of Letona), but the place has also entertained countless sweetened encounters with a Swiss for generations.
Precisely, Mercè Casademunt Viader and her son Marc Espunya, fourth and fifth generation, keep these traditions alive, to take away or consume on the spot. Not only dairy products and derivatives, but also some delicatessen. The prize has compensated them a little for the ravages of the crisis, when they had to close temporarily.
Evolving and new
In C modeproximity trade has been imposed Rovira drugstore, well known in the Galvany area, in Sant Gervasi. It has been on Madrazo street since 1940, although it had had previous locations since 1910. They boast of offering remedies for any hygiene and domestic need, from dyes to insecticides. But perhaps the true merit has been surviving changes in consumption and purchasing habits, evolving to reach 30,000 references. Their owners remain “stubborn” in “solve problems to anyone who walks through the door”, they have confessed after their election, and as a paradigm of personalized attention in neighborhood stores.
In the same section, a special mention has been Grocery Casa Buendia which has taken root in Fort Pienc, after opening in 2015 but with a ‘look’ of an old grocery store with charm.
As local commerce lives not only by tradition, the council has also awarded the category of Innovationwhich has been taken LaBar-Laundry Bar, which, as its name suggests, is a pioneering establishment in the city that combines laundry activity with that of a cafeteria in the Eixample (Fort Pienc). While you wait for your week’s laundry to be done, you can have a beer and even enjoy live music. But you can also just go for a drink or work at its large tables, thanks to the initiative of Gerard Navas and Marta Pérez.
Another essential subject these days is Sustainabilitywhere he was the winner Yes Future Positive Supermarket. It is a super plastic free. An Eden of bulk, driven by young entrepreneurs (from the fashion sector) Olga Rodríguez and Alejandro Martínez, where buyers go with their own packaging to avoid generating waste and where an endless supply of biodegradable and ecological products line up. Not only did they open in 2017 on Viladomat street, but they have also given way to a franchise in Poblenou, they explain to this newspaper. They dispatch more than 800 references, from food to cleaning. “Everything we sell is tested beforehand,” they say.
market soul
The markets Municipal councils, so deeply rooted in the neighborhoods of Barcelona, have also deserved their moment of glory for a few years now, which on this occasion has gone to a very unique position, as Best Individual Initiative. It’s about the Moreno Fruit Shop, that this year has celebrated half a century in the Carmel market, and it is not only very popular but has also taken advantage of its anniversary to launch an online store with added elements: eight cameras show the product in ‘streaming’ so that the shopping experience is almost like in person. They also display a blog of recipes and make their home deliveries through a social initiative that provides job opportunities to people at risk of social exclusion, and without polluting emissions in the distribution. And on top of that, everything they sell is healthy.
The Best collective initiative has won the Mercat de Sants Vendors Associationrefurbished in 2104 and which has continued to promote integrating and outreach activities in the neighborhood, such as the gastronomic classroom.
Related news
The gala has also had special mentions for the Optica Cottet, founded in 1902, for its continuous evolution until it became a sector benchmark; and as a collective initiative, to the associations of market vendors, for their efforts in supplying citizens during the pandemic with the maximum health guarantees.
The Albert Gonzalez Award to the contribution to the promotion, innovation and knowledge of the sector has been for the Barcelona Trade Foundation, that brings together 23 neighborhood shopping hubs, for its structuring role during the pandemic, and also for the multiple revitalizing initiatives that it deploys in all districts. Special mention has gone to Evaristo Sender Borrell87 years old, the son of merchants, who in 1970 opened Confeccions El Rellotge, one of the first points of sale for jeans, which is still active in Sant Antoni.