Sunday, May 14, 2023, 10:00
A radical change in just five years. This is how the merchants themselves describe the transformation that the traditional Torrevieja food market has undergone, from being almost full to surviving with just enough: a greengrocer, a fishmonger, a delicatessen-butcher, a bakery, a frozen food stall, another of pickles and a bar. In fact, in recent weeks, it is rare on Friday that, after leaving the Governing Board, the councilor-secretary, Federico Alarcón, does not announce the loss of any position that, pending the long-awaited reform this coming legislature, are vetoed to the entrepreneur.
A routine of soulless corridors, of signs of memories of yesteryear, which, however, everything is said, does not undermine the spirit of the last ones from La Plasa. For the most part, quiet people, with a background in terms of attracting customers with their talk and their perennial smile. They have known how to adapt to the times, although they cannot avoid remembering with longing that bustle and those fights to get the last corner of the corridor in the distant era before supermarkets.
«We will have to pass the trance, but surely it will be for the better»
Adelaide
pickle seller
Four generations nothing more and nothing less has the family of Ana María Andreu with the blinds up. With the departure of his only guild colleagues at the beginning of this year, the only ones that continue to provide tourists and locals with the freshest mackerel, sardines and prawns from the salt bay is Pescados Calderón. “Before, everyone came to the market, the shopping centers have made this dust.” If he continues, says Andreu, it is “because I like this a lot. I have always worked here, I have supported my family with this, but now the self-employed have been liquidated. We got by without anyone’s help », she complains.
For this reason, this fishmonger sees no other alternative than that the effort they make to renew itself is also reflected in a much more attractive building. «You have to do it new, with another style and another class. That there is also parking so that people can come because the one below is expensive and it is fatal ». In his opinion, it abounds, there are no facilities. “You go out and park out there and you’ve been sued.”
And although more people come is synonymous with more competition, they are clear about it. “There have to be more positions for people to choose from. Many people tell me how good it is to be the only fishmonger. But I want there to be variety and each one to defend their product”. Thus, she is anxious for the new project to be a revulsion that returns the lost spark to La Plasa. “If it remains as they have taught, it is beautiful”.
Not far from her is, in the parallel corridor, her partner Adelaida. 43 years ago this month this veteran vendor since she entered La Plasa to work. «I keep many memories because from a very young age I have been outside selling ice cream, then I was inside selling flowers and eggs and then I married the one who was right in front of my stall and I started with olives».
Years in which, he acknowledges, customs have changed. “Before, her father would come for the anchovies in brine,” she recalls, hand in hand with one of her most loyal clients. Also people from Campoamor, which was where the villas of the wealthiest people were.
“I can’t be the only fishmonger, there have to be many stalls for people to come back”
Ana Maria Andreu
Fishwife
Knowing the old square (the one before the 90s) she faces the “trance” of a new change with great hope. “This is going to be very good, but, of course, you have to go through it,” she says without losing her smile. «Now that it is from the City Council, the fever will have to pass. There are many people who want to go to work ».
This is how the Consistory has planned it, which hopes to fit the only remaining piece of the puzzle, that 1% of the property, whose owner is in the process of being seized, and which the City Council, through Suma, hopes will revert to municipal property. Only then can La Plasa, as planned, be transformed into that open space on whose ground floor the traditional market will come together with the new gastromarket. «What we want is that you can buy a product inside and have it cooked for you in any of the establishments abroad. All in a transparent and open space where the terraces go into the building”, explains the mayor, Eduardo Dolón.
Regarding the meanwhile of the work, the councilor acknowledges that nothing is closed. “We have been advancing in conversations about what we could do, if they would finally be located in any area or establish some compensation. What we do want is for the reform of the building’s façade to coincide with that of the market, and, by the time that is done, to continue working on the upper floors with the market already open”.
#Plasa #Torrevieja #await #times