Two stalls and a bar. This is the only activity in the Ciutat Meridiana market for the past year. When this market opened in 1968 with the aim of supplying an area of the city that began to be populated with the migratory flow, the customers organized themselves to queue, and be able to shop without being late for their jobs. One of them is Pura, who arrived in Torre Baró from Jaén at 9 years old. She is now 74, and together with her husband, every morning they have a cortado at the only bar left. “There used to be three bars, fishmongers, butchers, greengrocers, everything, now you see, we have to make a living,” comments Pura resignedly.
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“The neighborhood is aging, many people have died, and those who have arrived from other countries, most don’t have papers, so what are they going to ask for?” points out Santiago, 78 years old and Pura’s husband.
Little hustle and dead calm, except in the bar. “We keep working, but it would be different if more stalls were open. The thing is that when they put the metro, people went to the Montserrat market. With this one, let’s see what happens, they haven’t told us anything, but I imagine that when they close the two stalls that are open, they will do something else, because I don’t know how this is maintained. And me at 58 years old, let’s see what I do…”, argues Josefa López with a hint of concern, who runs the only bar that survives in the Ciutat Meridiana market.
When asked if the Barcelona City Council would allow reopening some of the closed stalls if there was interest, Sheila Ferrer, in charge of the only greengrocer, answers yes, but that many young people reject certain jobs and points to the fishmonger’s stall in front of her, closed but with everything necessary. “This is a candy, it just needs someone who wants to sell fish and work…”, says this 29-year-old woman, who two and a half years ago dared to take over the greengrocer’s.
Next to Sheila’s stall is the only pork butcher and delicatessen that resists. It is led by Ondina Monteiro de Moura, 63 years old. She lives in Sant Boi and every morning, Monday to Saturday, she opens the shutter at seven sharp. She says she is very worried about the future because she is a market woman who started working at Santa Caterina when she was 14 years old, and at this point wouldn’t know how to do anything else.
“There is a lack of professionals, no succession,” says the most veteran stallholder of Ciutat Meridiana
About the current situation of the market, she explains that “the biggest drop was during the real estate boom, when everyone was buying flats and many left the neighborhood. A very important Arab community arrived that eats halal and does not consume at the market, and then there is a South American community that looks for a more affordable product and only comes on special occasions.”
However, in Ondina’s opinion, all the city’s markets are in decline: “Why have the Torres brothers opened in Santa Caterina and will soon do so in La Boqueria? Because there are vacant stalls. And if Santa Caterina has closed stalls, well, you see here. Also, people don’t want to work. It’s many hours, and people want a different kind of life and this is the reality. My 24-year-old son doesn’t want this, he prefers to telework and travel the world. And then there is another issue, there is a lack of professionals, no succession. And those of us left are reaching retirement age.”
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On the way to the Trinitat market, which also has only three stalls and a bar operating, we ran into Encarna, who, curious, wants to know what we are asking. “Ah, only about the market? The neighborhood doesn’t matter, right? Well, this is terrible, there is a lot of insecurity, many squatters, you can’t even go away for the weekend because you’re afraid of losing your home,” this neighbor says bluntly.
Entering the Trinitat market, the scene is similar to the previous one. The Palomo bar is the heart of a market where practically only the supermarket works. “They eat us up with taxes and you know what will happen, that Consum will take it all,” says the person in charge of this bar.
Barcelona is one of the few cities in the world that can boast a network of markets distributed in all neighborhoods to guarantee fresh and quality food to the population. Said like this it sounds comforting, but on the ground the reality is different.
“There used to be bars, fishmongers, greengrocers, everything, now we have to make a living,” laments Pura
Sources from the City Council and the Municipal Market Institute confirm that a tender has been published that ends on the 29th of this month for the expansion of the supermarket in the Trinitat market.
Regarding Ciutat Meridiana, the consulted sources maintain that “work is being done to try to maintain the offer and also to be able to reopen businesses that have been closing, and in this line we currently have an active auction of stalls, where we offer several establishments of this market to seek some proposal of interest to reopen them.”
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