MURCIA. Murcia’s food markets have never been solely a place of sale. Markets maintain a relationship with the growth of the city; their location is always strategic within the city since for a long time they were the key point of food distribution for the whole town and a large area of social relations. Today, they continue to establish themselves in familiar places where trust and personal treatment, always with good humor, is included in the transaction.
The municipality of Murcia has eight. And one of the main ones is Veronicas Square, that has existed, although without being a construction, since 1799, when the positions were already disaggregated by the San Francisco map. This is how the business started Ballester House what Antonio, after three generations, directs today. In 1900, his great-grandfather was already selling.
Family clans whose descendants have grown up amid the daily bustle of the neighbors, prices marked by scales and, above all, with respect for the product and the customer as a flag. Paco, heir to the position Paco Consuelo, he says sarcastically: “I was there since I was born, in a box of fruit that my mother arranged with cushions.” He is now 67 years old and wants to extend the life of the business as long as possible since, when he retires, he will not receive family relief: “He is very sacrificed and does not reward.” It will not be easy to say goodbye: “Thanks to the position I have received an education and, afterwards, I have given it to my three children, so I am going to put up with it as long as I can.”
On Saavedra Fajardo, the prize for the offspring with the longest journey goes to Carnicería Miguel and Paco Muñoz. “The position was founded by my uncles, who came from Llano de Brujas in 1945. Then the square was old. It was restructured in 1973 to how it is now and the position was already run by my brother. I started working with him in 1979, until now that I am alone “, they relate to Murcia Plaza.
Other squares are more recent, but just as emblematic in their districts. Carlos’s position, in Saint Andrew, and Loli, in The swimming pool, they are 38 years old in front of the public.
All of them have seen the passage of time, they have served the generations that have succeeded each other for more than 60 years and suffered in their flesh modernization and changes in habits, to which they have inevitably had to adapt without losing determination. . They comment that, from their perspective, society has remained stable until about ten years ago, when Gaining time began to prevail and large surfaces began to outpace them.
“IN THE MARKET THERE IS A DIALOGUE: THERE IS INTERCULTURALITY, A GOOD ENVIRONMENT AND TRUST”
Adapt the product to, for example, ready meals it is one of the strategies they choose to keep up to date. “Some because they don’t know how to cook and others because they don’t feel like it.” His opinion is that the accelerated pace of life is the main motive for changing our tastes. Carlos tells us about how to sell meat, its raw material: ” I like the traditional one, the paper; but people are getting used to the way they find food in supermarkets and request plastic trays. Not doing it is going against the tide. People are demanding it of you and you have to give in even if it is not ecological. “The same thing happens in bakeries, where you can find cookies and all kinds of sweets by weight. In Encarna, San Andrés, they admit that” it is difficult to face the Supermarkets that have cheaper prices, but the people who come know that we have higher quality, more natural products and they like this sales format. Being ‘the same’, they are different articles“.
They are fully confident that the value of their product will keep them afloat, despite the fact that daily consumption has drifted from the car to the plastic bag. “Here you don’t make big purchases like before. Those of us in the stalls try to have quality, to have more special products, things that people have to come for specifically,” says Loli. They all agree on making quality prevail and highlighting products that we cannot find in supermarkets. “The customers who come appreciate us a lot, they love us, it is not their fault that online and big is so attractive”, defends Paco.
Teleworking, a recent reality in many lives, seems to have a direct impact on consumption. “Before, during the week, many people came whose work was nearby; that has changed, I think because people work from home”, reasons Muñoz. Also, in recent years, the growth of women in the world of work, the liberation of women from housework and emigration to the periphery of families has affected: fewer and fewer middle-aged people have their mornings for shopping in central locations. “People who live in the area come, they do not move. Or sporadically. It is not like taking the car to go to a Super and make a fat purchase. The market has stayed for exceptional food and not for the day the day“agrees Antonio.
The sale is focused on Friday and Saturday. “Young people usually buy on Saturdays and I think they like to come, but from Monday to Friday it is a completely different profile and much smaller.” Sales have become unpredictable. “The change is not only in the way of buying but in the way of living. Before you knew how each day was going to be at the sales and profile level, now you have no idea“, comments Paco.
“Everything has been modernized because food has done it. 20 years ago there were 7 cheeses in Spain.” Antonio tells that he has opened a web page because “in the market one is limited to exposing things”. Paco, on the other hand, comments on resisting digital: “People appreciate personal treatment, the good genre. I know my product is good and I fight for it. “
Will the younger generations want to recover a form of consumption that seems to be rusting? The opinion of the sellers is that “in front of young people there is a future”. Their hope is that the humane treatment that the market offers is inherent and incomparable to large stores: “In the market there is dialogue, there is interculturality, there is a good atmosphere and trust”. Loli has tried to open in the evenings to be available to new customers; however, it assumes that it is incompatible with the freshness of the product that characterizes the food markets. “We see that the youth are encouraged to come, they like to interact with us and the good product, the problem is that they can only dedicate their time to us on Saturdays.”
Abandoned after confinement
Regarding the pandemic, Miguel and Paco Muñoz declare, with regret, that they feel abandoned by a specific part of the clientele: “The market has turned upside down with people serving, gambling at us and those clients have later disappeared. In fact, they have not taken anything into consideration. As butchers we have served fruit, vegetables, things from the supermarket … Everything they have asked of us who have asked us, and then those people have disappeared “.
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