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It has been open since 1939, on Rua dos Capelistas, in Braga, on the corner with the so-called Campo da Vinha. Now, 81 years later, with the crisis of the greedy, customers are scarce in the grocery store. The colonial.
“I am open from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and only four or five clients enter,” said O MINHO, its owner, Eduardo Marques.
The merchant blames, for the fact, the traffic cut made at the time of the administration of the city of Mesquita Machado, which stopped happening there, and the absence of residents in the area, expelled by the high rental prices or buying a house in the historic center. . The historic center is now mainly occupied by restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops, and few residents resist
The business, which has been in the hands of his direct family for 65 years, lived on regular clients, those of many years ago and the many tourists who demanded city of archbishops Before the pandemic: “We have new clients, but also some of the third generation of families who have always come here.”
In the past, Campo da Vinha was the site of the city’s weekly fair, which brought people in bards to the grocery store: “Today, we specialize in dried fruit and table wines, especially in Porto, and we too. , like a convenience store, “he explains.
In addition to the absence of cars, even in passing, Eduardo Marques criticizes what he says are the high prices of the various parking lots in the center, and stresses that even the lowest price now implemented to park on street parking meters, operated by Urban Transport (TUB) is not enough to attract people.
“In Braga, even to visit a patient in the Hospital, the park is expensive,” he laments.
In addition to the grocery store, Rua dos Capelistas is open only to the Central Pharmacy, victim of the same desertification, and to banks in the area.
Anima house
Miguel Bandeira (right). Photo: DR / File
Incidentally contacted, the Town Planning Councilor, Miguel Bandeira, agreed with the diagnosis made by the merchant, but stressed that, with the pandemic, little can be done: “the traffic will not return and the Municipality has no capacity, although the want, make the historic center have many residents again, “he stressed.
The mayor adds that, now, to support commerce and restaurants in the reopening of the activity, the Municipality is preparing an incentive program, allowing, for example, the expansion of the esplanades.
He says that “it is very difficult to predict the future of commercial activity”, whether in the old part of the city, in other areas or even in large areas, suggesting, for this, that the so-called traditional trade continues along the lines of modernization that has been following: “The Rua dos Capelistas is central in urban terms, so that trade must continue to prevail due to its differentiation in terms of quality and exclusivity of the product it offers,” he stresses.
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