It has had the blinds drawn since Epiphany Eve, but many of the neighbors who have been passing by there these days have attributed it to the fact that it was a period of rest that its owner, Juan Antonio Navarro, heir to the business, had decided to take. that this year he would have turned 85 years old, and that he had run the San Julián drugstore since 1982. Located in the square of the same name, in the heart of the San Pedro neighborhood, adjacent to San Antolín, that year Juan Antonio took over the business that his grandfather Juan founded in 1939.
Pepe Jiménez, who for the last 40 years has worked as an employee at the drugstore, is in charge of giving the “bad news” to those who see him having a morning coffee at Cafés Moreno, a few meters from his previous job, in the San Pedro Street, so as not to lose good customs.
“Pepe, when can I pick up my brush?” one of the clients asks him as she passes by him. “Well, I'm afraid you're out of a brush, because the store is closed.” “But forever?” she insists. “Yes,” she answers with a serious look on her face. “Why?” another client joins the conversation. “Because Juan Antonio has retired,” she answers again. And she has done it for health reasons.
A family business that knew how to weather the storm of online shopping is lost due to its personalized treatment
It is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that you will have to answer the same question, since the residents of the neighborhood return to their daily chores after the Christmas holidays.
The surprise is great because for those who have lived there for years or have recently decided to do so, the San Julián drugstore was, along with the neighboring Verónicas food plaza, the greatest icon of this area. A family business that knew how to weather the storm of online shopping due to its personalized service and because unusual items could be found there.
In the collective imagination, the green drum at the entrance, on the right hand side, which displayed brooms of all kinds, or the 'L'-shaped counter or its shelves from top to bottom, on which the items are stored, will always remain imprinted. were shown in order. And, from time to time, you even had to look at the ceiling to find the object you were looking for, such as dusters, dustpans or watering cans.
With its closure, a piece of the history of this traditional neighborhood is gone and a gap is opened in the community feeling, a fact that has not gone unnoticed on social networks. The published comments also agreed on the same thing: the pity for the loss of an emblematic business in Murcia.
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