The sector defends the importance of historical and rooted establishments in pursuit of neighborhood identity and socialization, after two years marked by the ups and downs of the pandemic
In the lively street of clot, the showcase of The Palm announces that 2022 will be a big year for pastry. He turns one hundred years “sweetening your days & rdquor ;, they proclaim. Even the bitterest of the pandemic, when they sold piece cakes against the sadness of domestic recollection. Ramón Pérez i Puigdollers’ business is one of the handful of new centenarians of Barcelona, which have already overcome so many crises that this has been one more notch. The prospects of trade associations for this year are hopeful and quick comeback as soon as ómicron remits. The weakest points are now the extremes: peripheral and low-income neighborhoods, such as the Besòs area, where the fragile economies are even more weakened, and the commercial heart of the city, Barna Centre, La Rambla or El Born, with many businesses still closed for the eventual tourist desertion.
2021 was once again like a roller coaster for the evolution of local businesses, dependent in many cases on the epidemiological situation and the consequent restrictions. But it served to verify that in a situation of remission of infections the consumption recovered quickly. There was a desire for normality and good employment recovery figures, which allowed good sales campaigns in part of the summer and autumn. “In November we reached pre-pandemic peaks, and the Christmas campaign was good, but the sixth wave has also brought a drop in spirits and in the neighborhoods people do not go to the sales with enthusiasm & rdquor ;, reflects Prosper Puig, president of the merchants of Gran de Sant Andreu, but also vice-president of Barcelona Trade, an entity that brings together 22 neighborhood shopping areas.
Puig believes that after this wave subsides, the reactivation “will go quickly if people have jobs and security.” They perceive it in the clientele. Another thing is some vulnerable neighborhoods and more punished by the loss of purchasing power, he adds. However, local trade has resisted better than expected. In some cases coming out reinforced after making a strong effort towards the digitization and improvement of customer services. “The neighborhood nuclei, not dependent on floating population, are fine & rdquor ;, he values.
This notable dependence on foreign tourists, which has manifested itself in a large part of old city, is the one that keeps not a few blinds lowered in the center of the Catalan capital. Gabriel Jené, president of Open Barcelona (made up of tourist or central hubs, such as Barna Centre, Pelai, Sagrada Família or Barceloneta…) places businesses linked to the visitor economy, now absent. But from the conviction that as soon as it is possible to travel again, the center will take flight, as it began to happen last summer.
Another thing is the rate of resuscitation of closed businesses, or the resistance of those who resist with high incomes. Neither luxury nor the large chains have suffered in this sense, he emphasizes, but rather the victims have been smaller structures in the so-called ‘prime zone’ “that cannot reopen if demand does not return,” he adds.
fallow consumption
But in general, the businessman also recalls that in the spring the so-called ‘revenge shopping’ or shopping revenge after months of austerity. “People bought what they needed and more & rdquor ;, he summarizes. Then it was the turn of the restaurants, which, having regained capacity and schedules, experienced another ‘boom’. Those signs that only truncate the waves of contagion lead him to think of a “good and positive” 2022, of great commercial activity – if there are no more variants or restrictions – except for the lowest income areas. “There is no loss of confidence in consumption, there is a desire to spend and the ability to save & rdquor ;, he values, although without losing sight of the inflation and possible effects on the supply chain.
If the health crisis has made anything clear in the field of trade, it is that having good roots helps survival. Thus, apart from the problem of high rents in the center, for many businesses to exhibit Solera It has been vital, as they have strengthened their positions in local sales, with a loyal and committed clientele.
Puig, whose family has run a delicatessen of the same name since 1957, but with origins dating back to at least 1902, believes that the consolidation of the activity, “the rooting & rdquor ;, is essential in the face of attacks like this. considers it the only recipe against “impersonality & rdquor; commercial exhibited by some areas and cities. He defends beyond the economy, the “social function”.
Ramón Pérez, who opened this article, knows a lot about this, as a third generation of pastry chefs, where stands out the fourth, with his daughter Laura both in the workshop and in the store. His business is resistant based on tentacles, by incorporating to be able to expand the work and storage area, to weld the business that his grandparents started in the clot. “People remember the flavors of what they ate years ago, they are used to us, and we know what they like,” he summarizes. This has not prevented moving forward with the times: less sugar, purer chocolates, incorporation of fruits and temptations tailored to intolerances…
Torteles, sausages, cigars
Although his business has pillars in ‘diada’ or festive desserts (what if the Sant Antoni torteles, what if the yolk nougat), the pandemic has been a master’s degree. Suddenly, everyone wanted to stuff themselves with chocolate desserts, cakes to brighten up the running of the bulls… Highlight the 600 deliveries on Easter Monday 2020, testing their ability. “We were like Amazon,” jokes the artisan pastry chef, who as a child “played with chocolate instead of plasticine” and at 57 years old and with a team of 16 people, he continues to start the day at two in the morning. “We have adapted more to the internet & rdquor ;, he says, with his sights set on a centenary celebration that will include two commemorative cakes and “some kind of street party if they let us, with the Red Cross & rdquor ;, with whom they have always collaborated.
In Poble Nou, Rocío Berrocal, at 28, has fewer memories of Carns Pont, also centenary from this year. His father associated with Óscar Pont (third generation) decades ago and the business has been advancing along with the buyers, expanding meats and, above all, elaborated meats, to attract the youngest and time-strapped customer. His case is unique, the pandemic brought “sadness in the environment & rdquor; but sales boom in your case, without having to resort to home delivery. Not even to social networks or a website. They limited themselves to allocating a mobile phone to WhatsApp orders, which have become established, as a direct link with the butchers. They have a second store in Consell de Cent-Nàpols and the illusion of a spring celebration for their usual customers.
This time in the center, the mythical bar Glacier (the oldest in Plaça Reial and through which half the city has paraded) will blow 100 candles exhibiting resilience and a new relief after a complicated stage in the pandemic. In this case, the anniversary brings news, since the group that has taken over the management of the premises since October (and another four very soon in Barcelona) plans to renew it in the coming months, maintaining the outstanding elements and adding nods to the style French bistro original, with a more gastronomic proposal, advance to this newspaper. They will celebrate in September, its opening month in 1922.
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a few steps away, Sunday Cigars (until recently, Gimeno) fulfilled them in 2020, although it was such a black year for the Rambla that it saved the splendor for later. Its current owner, Domingo Vila-Puig (widower of Carmen Canals, third generation of the original saga) has consolidated the business as an international benchmark for cigar lovers, after having implemented the first natural cellar for its preservation. If covid permits, he hopes to take his toast to the streets – even throughout the year. Other centenarians also cross their fingers to celebrate their longevity in a big way.