Top blanket illegal sales force business closures: They denounce that the saturation of public space drives away customers and sales sink.

The merchants of the Barceloneta have tried, without success, to adapt to the new situation that is lived in the neighborhood in the last four years. The manteros have disembarked en masse in Barceloneta, protected by the tolerance of the administration that, in their opinion, has meant that this marine area has degraded to the point that it scares away the customers and some shops have had to close. It is not a question of the product that they sell in the top blanket being unfair competition, which in some cases it is, but the illegal street market has become the main attraction pole for tourists who already avoid approaching the rest of business. The gap that is causing is deep and the consequences of the businesses, devastating. The neighborhood deteriorates and the commercial fabric suffers.

"I had to close. The clientele did not come to my restaurant because to do it they had to dodge a lot of handbags that were in their way. " Carlos Manresa is a restorer. It has three locations in Barceloneta but last year it had to lower the shutter of El Magatzem del Port restaurant, located in the Palau de Mar next to the Museu de Història de Catalunya. This is one of the areas where the greatest number of street vendors is concentrated. The customers did not arrive at the restaurant because the row of blankets led them to another place. Against this background, sales plummeted by 50% and this, added to the rent of 5,000 euros from the premises, made the accounts do not come out. "I had to close and fire the seven workers I had."

Top blanket illegal sales force business closures

Difficulty the passage

The restauradores criticize that the vendors surround their terraces

The same thing happened to Toni Marfil, owner of the restaurant Emperador del Palau de Mar, which was also closed last year after 26 years of history. "Who will want to sit on a terrace where you have a street market in front of you ?, he asks. "Before you could see the sea and the boats but now everything is blankets". People have stopped entering the neighborhood, "confirms Carme Bras, one of the owners of the Bras hardware store, which has been in Barceloneta for 68 years. "The clients concentrate on the Borbó walk, with the blankets, and they no longer walk through the alleys."

The neighborhood has changed. And the merchants agree that it has gotten worse. They indignantly denounce that the phenomenon of the manteros is a symptom of the neglect of Ada Colau's government, which has caused an evident effect called. The image of vendors occupying the length and breadth of Joan de Borbó's main promenade has become a common sight. "The City Council has managed to turn an illegal market into something everyday," interrupts Hector Izuel, spokesman for the shopkeepers of the antique market of Port Vell. "We are the real street vendors, those who pay taxes and those who pay to install a stop. What is not normal is that we have to fight every day to gain ground for the manteros, a land for which we pay, "he laments.

They are surrounded by manteros, the vendors are placed in front of them, creating a corridor. There are tensions. The coexistence is crude. And more when the accounts do not come out. "We are becoming the market next to the manteros. They ask us for bags to be able to store the sneakers that they buy in the top blanket ", explains Rosalía Reyes, also a paradista. If the situation continues, "we will have to increase the quota to be able to install a position". Of the 18 positions that were, two have closed and it is difficult to find someone to replace them. "Nobody wants to become a paradist. If this continues, we will have to close ", reiterates Iva Geneva, who has a position in the same market. The only measure that they assure has set in motion the City Council is the deployment of two social educators who mediate with the manteros. "They tell us to look the other way," complains the spokesman for the posts. "And why this inequality with us? Who helps us, "denounces Domingo del Viejo, from the Colon market.

Permanent conflict

The shopkeepers denounce that every day they must fight to maintain their space

Discouragement has taken over the commerce of this seaside neighborhood. Andrés García has been running a kiosk all his life on the Joan de Borbó promenade. Every day he has to deal with the sellers so that they leave space and a client can approach the store. Her sister closed last year, also pressed by the change of habits that the top blanket has printed on holidaymakers. "It's not that newspapers are not sold. I look for my life to sell anything, that's not the problem, "he warns.

The merchants denounce that police are missing and demand that the agents return to act in Barceloneta. "Do we have to be the ones to confront these mafias?", Asks rhetorically the newsagent. The presence of street vendors is constant. They never faint. The merchants described that new people are coming. That there are roles. They have a leader who replenishes the genre, which accumulates the collection. "They are more organized than it seems," says the restorer.

Domingo, the shopkeeper of Colón, spends all his time observing the manteros and details that "they are no longer on the lookout for the police, but in the blanket they make it beautiful, this tells you how calm they are. There is total impunity. "

Montse Miró has been selling glasses at Miró Optics for 30 years. His business is also one of those directly affected by the top blanket, which has one of its flagship products in fake sunglasses. "Sales suffer," he says while lamenting that "all this is going to increase."

Pareos, umbrellas and umbrellas are other of the most common products that unfold in the blankets. Montse Balladares know it well. Three decades ago he sells these types of items but he has four in which sales are scarce. "I sell much more when it rains because there are no manteros, imagine." Sunil's situation is similar. Sell ​​pareos and beach items. "Since 2015, sales have been declining." Your business is adjacent to a booth where you can send money abroad. Many vendors get confused and come to your place to send the remittance. They use the proceeds in the blanket to send it to their country. "Your profits do not affect anything. They do not pay taxes or the money they earn they spend here. "

The innkeepers, the shopkeepers, the traditional shops, agree in saying enough to a situation that they consider has overflowed. The discouragement spreads. The satiety has reached its highest point. "If in two years this continues like this, we close all."

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