Initially, they called it globalization. The fact is that here, they were selling to the Chinese and I am not sure that we would do the same in China.
After that, a sort of cloning appeared, which was baptized with the name of franchise. They were the same and they were in my neighborhood, but I also saw them when I went to visit other neighborhoods or cities.
In the meantime, food and non-food stores emerged with more flexible opening hours than “Bazooka” chewing gum. They are an evolution of drugstores (colmados) where you are always greeted with a ‘hello friend’.
The almighty supermarkets have also moved in to sell oranges that are no longer from Valencia and fish that is no longer from our “Platgeta” (fish market).
To top it off, we discovered that we could buy all this and more from home, entering any of the thousands of online stores that appear on the screen. Especially one that smiles mischievously at us.
Globalization, franchises, department stores, online commerce… This has very little to do with what it was like no more than 25 years ago!
But, like any self-respecting evolution, this one has its victims, whom, exactly like the Iberian lynx or the polar bear, those in charge say it is necessary to protect. Depending on the occasion, they call it “proximity trade”, “0 km product” and other even more creative names. But the reality is that every day shutters are lowered or replaced by other businesses that inexplicably pay transfers and millionaire rents. How do they do it?
However, as the wise man said: “it is what it is”. They close because the figures don’t add up. Because taxes eat us up. Or because we have not known how to evolve. Perhaps because what, how, and when things are sold, is no longer interesting. Or a sum of everything.
But just one detail: let’s not forget that we are not talking about Iberian lynxes or polar bones; we are talking about families.
