The Congress souvenir shop has been billing an average of 20,000 euros per year due to its small number of visitors, just over 11,000 in the last decade, and for this reason it is preparing to enable a new entrance from the street in 2025 with the in order to facilitate direct access to the public.
In total, From 2014 to the present, the store’s turnover amount has been 209,774.25 euros, an average of 20,000 euros per year. In this period, It was in 2021 when greater benefits were achieved26,002.12 euros in total, while the year 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, was the year with the lowest turnover, not exceeding 8,280 euros.
These figures, to which Europa Press has had access, are due not only to the fact that the store lacks a website where the products can be purchased, but also to the fact that it has a small number of visits.
Specifically, It is estimated that it has received some 11,173 visitors in the last ten years. This is the estimate made by the Chamber taking into account the 7,621 tickets issued in this period. To these people who bought something, the institution adds another 20% of visitors (about 3,550) who only came to browse, who were attended to but ultimately did not purchase any product, or groups of visitors in which they only purchased some of its components.
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year without assigned administrative staff
Based on this estimate, The year that the store received the most visits was in 2017, with 1,451. On the other hand, the year with the least was not in 2020, when the store was closed for a time due to the pandemic, but in 2022, since it was opened only part-time due to not having administrative staff assigned to it. Specifically, in 2020 the estimated visits were 545, compared to 217 in 2022.
To make it better known and increase sales, the souvenir shop in the Lower House is currently undergoing renovation to open direct access from the street for the public and thus improve the projection and exposure of the business since, until now, the most regular clients have been fundamentally parliamentarians and staff of the institution.
Now, with an investment of 60,000 euros, lor that the aim, first of all, is to expand and adapt the space dedicated to the store but also to provide it with direct access from the Carrera de San Jerónimo, since the current access forces visitors to pass the security check and leaves the “too hidden” space, something that prevents it from “properly carrying out its function of projection and dissemination.”
The forecast is that this new access will be ready during the first half of 2025 and will also include the installation of signage or neon and the carrying out of exterior actions to disseminate and display the store.
Fifty souvenirs
This establishment was an idea by the socialist Manuel Marín, inspired by the model of the European Parliament. It opened its doors in 2006 with an offer of fifty items with retail prices ranging from one euro to three hundred.
Among the most purchased items in the last ten years are the cheapest in the catalog: pins (one euro), pens (between 3 and 8 euros), cloth bags (5 euros) or a keychain of the 1978 Constitution (3 euros).
Specifically, between 2014 and 2024, the best-selling item has been the rubber pen, which reached its highest number of sales in 2022 with 8,469 units.
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