A woman carries a large wad of bills in her hand. Neither she nor she bothers to protect the thousands of Cuban pesos because, what was once a large sum of money, today barely becomes a few purchases. Adjacent to the peculiar façade, a dozen people were in line this Thursday for the former Casa Riviera, an exclusive store at number 456 Galiano Street in Centro Habana, which once sold Rolex watches and jewelry, but which has now been rented. to a small private company that offers sheets, blankets for cleaning the floor and towels.
From a few meters before reaching the store, the signs of its former class can be distinguished. The imposing entrance gate, the small stained glass windows decorated with a flowery frame where the expensive jewels were displayed. The rough stone columns support the portal that had a beautiful granite floor and today shows impersonal modern slabs, of poor quality and full of holes.
“I’m going after the man in the blue shirt,” claimed an elderly woman who claims to have “picked up the pace” of the MSME. “They sell a little cheaper than elsewhere, so many people come here to buy in quantities and take with them to resell,” she explains to 14 intervene. After years closed due to problems with sewage pipes and lack of supply, the old Riviera began, a few weeks ago, to be managed by individuals.
If before clients could access the property, with its mix of neoclassical and baroque style, and its employees in suits and ties, now it is sold at the door and with haste
A sheet with two covers, with a high percentage of polyester and at 1,300 pesos, is displayed at the entrance counter. If before clients could access the property, with its mix of neoclassical and baroque style, and its employees in suits and ties, now it is sold at the door and in a hurry. “Come on, whose turn is it?” the saleswoman tried to speed up the line, somewhat overwhelmed by the questions from those crowding the counter. Behind her, the interior of the legendary watch and jewelry store was still visible, with its light marbles, its elaborate capitals and a narrow staircase that at the end of the ground floor gave way to the majestic mezzanine.
“Give me ten towels!” a customer shouted and her voice echoed on the walls of the business that in its beginnings operated under the brand of Abislaimán e Hijos, the exclusive distributor of Rolex watches in Cuba. “Don’t crowd together, I can’t even breathe that way!” The employee demanded when the line got out of control and fell on top of her. The majority of those who stood in line were humble people, who are willing to get up early to make a few pesos difference on the resale of merchandise.
Casa Riviera was not the only business of Julio Abislaimán Fade’s family. Her daughter Alicia and her husband Manuel Hernández managed the also exclusive Chantilly jewelry store in a central location on San Rafael Street in Havana. When the confiscations began after Fidel Castro came to power, the clan of businessmen packed their bags and went to Puerto Rico. There they registered the company Chantilly Joyeros and, although a good part of the descendants of those Cuban emigrants moved to the United States, the Abislaimán Joyas firm, niece of the Casa Riviera in Havana, still operates on the Isla del Encanto.
“If they don’t organize, the sale will have to stop,” shouted this Thursday an anxious saleswoman unable to control the customers’ disorder. Next to her, escorting her from her silence, two of the armored glass and bronze-framed windows, which more than half a century ago showed the shiny Rolexes, this morning had a rusty hanger for hanging pillowcases and kitchen towels.
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