Farewell to the businesses that were the pillars of the local economy: "We'll make a living in the industrial estates."

PalmOn April 1, Vicente Cajuso, 73, lowered the barrier for the last time at Didasko, the stationery store he owned in an industrial estate in Maó. After having long considered the possibility of retiring due to his age and at a time when the business was increasing profits and revenue, he did so. While still considering it, he posted an advertisement on entrepreneurship websites and public administration programs to see if any Menorcans would take it, but he had no choice but to transfer the business to a Mallorcan company. "If I could have entrusted the stationery store to a Menorcan, I would have done it," he asserts. He also would have liked his children to continue with the "hard work" he did for 38 years, "as long as they liked the trade and it made them happy," he emphasizes with the sincerity of a father who wants the best for his children.

This is one of the thousands of small businesses in the Balearic Islands that lack generational relevance. In fact, 5,000 businesses have closed in the islands in the last fifteen years, many of them due to this lack of succession, according to Joana Manresa, president of the Balearic Federation of Commercial Entrepreneurs (Afedeco). For her part, Cajuso, who was also president of the Menorca Business Association of Merchants (Ascome), laments that in some municipalities "there are fewer businesses than 20 years ago, even though the population has grown significantly." Along the same lines, she warns that "if everything continues like this," towns like Migjorn "will be left without businesses."

In 2024, for the first phase of the Business Relief program, the Catalan government conducted surveys of businesses over 10 years old, with fewer than 11 employees, and located in municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. The results of the 530 surveys showed that of the businesses planning to close, 48% believe the main cause is the lack of generational renewal, and 54% of businesses have no plans for the future without family renewal. Unfortunately, the loss of small businesses due to this problem is not a one-time phenomenon but a "totally structural" trend, explains anthropologist José Mansilla.

Who caused this?

Now that the main streets of the islands' cities are filled with franchises with gleaming, modern window displays, the demands made by traditional commerce "have a romantic tone," according to Mansilla. "It seems we forget that, before traditional commerce was displaced, supermarkets appeared and we liked to take the car and go. And the fact that you can order your shopping from your mobile phone seems wonderful, but in reality this is putting a new layer on top of traditional commerce," she recalls.

People have a "new way of shopping," explains Carolina Domingo, president of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses of Mallorca (Pimeco). "And they've gotten used to it because it's very convenient," she adds. Commerce on-line, The game, which has seen an increase in demand since the pandemic, has become a strong competitor for traditional businesses. "Today, you can find a game for one euro that I sell to the store for 14.90 euros, because it costs me 10.90. That's why it's cheaper, and if they don't like it, they'll throw it away and nothing will happen," laments the president of Ascome, Joana Torres, who owns a toy store, where she has worked for 5 years.

Furthermore, she complains that both companies (small and large) "compete with the same cards." Thus, she believes that the structure of a traditional business "is very cumbersome" because "there are things that are not suitable for a small business." "Large companies have departments to do things that small companies must do alone," she complains. She admits that she doesn't know what will happen to her family business. "It's a somewhat taboo subject," she says.

Second Chances

The closure of traditional businesses causes "a complete change in cities," says Mansilla. "But they've always changed. Cities change, what we must ensure is that they do so in the fairest way possible. We can't stop the transformation of neighborhoods, but we can control the real estate market from being so aggressive with organization and planning," he points out.

The key characteristic of local commerce is its proximity to the customer. Since the closure or transfer of many of these businesses, consumers "haven't been able to replace relationships with others," he explains. Along the same lines, he believes that "if a family transfers a business to another, regular customers must go about their business as usual." Thus, the anthropologist refers to "all the people who come from outside who are in charge of restarting the businesses" of Mallorcan families, such as the Chinese who save the life of Palma's long-standing bars and also retain their names and offer local dishes.

If consumer trends don't change, if transferred businesses aren't given second chances, and urban centers aren't filled with franchises selling products from outside the Balearic Islands, they'll end up with "cities exactly the same as the rest of the world," says Mansilla. This is linked to the displacement of the working class from urban centers because "they won't be able to access them," nor will they be able to maintain the businesses because "they won't be at their economic level," he adds.

In the Balearic Islands, there have already been cases. Marga Camps, 62, inherited her godparents' shoe store in the center of Migjorn Gran and closed it in 2016 because it wasn't profitable. "It was very difficult for me to close the store where I was practically born. I even dreamed about it, but it couldn't be. I was still paying off my loans," she laments. When someone asked her to transfer the shoe store, she herself confessed that it wasn't worth it. "I resisted closing for a long time, but it was unsustainable," she recalls. If she had been able to sustain the business, her daughter would surely have taken her on, Camps says. She criticizes the fact that Migjorn will become "a commuter town" and predicts that "everything will come down to shopping in the malls, the neighborhoods will become poor, and life will be lived in the industrial estates." This change in cities will happen "through a process inherent to capitalism and because we will have expelled the people who lived and worked there," Mansilla says.

What do we lose?

In addition to taking the life that small businesses bring to a city, their disappearance could also provoke a change in the social fabric of the Islands. "Other types of businesses don't consolidate the social relationships established with those of the past, which were almost primary," warns Mansilla. Furthermore, many of these small businesses were created to meet specific needs in the municipalities or because the product was traditional to the area (such as shoes in Menorca), two facts that don't correspond with the origin of franchises.

The daughter of the former owner of the shoe store in Migjorn Gran always called her "the psychologist" because she would spend hours talking to customers. "I had time to serve them, advise them, and also talk to them," she says proudly. Personalized attention is a social component that also disappears if traditional businesses do.

The zero-mile economy and the jobs it creates could also be lost, explains the former president of Ascome. Franchises are owned by outsiders, and the money allocated doesn't end up in the pockets of the island's merchants, so the profits aren't reinvested in the region. "Local commerce is what invests in Menorca," he asserts.

How can this be avoided?

A study conducted by the Economic and Social Council of the Balearic Islands (CES) determined in 2019 that the average age of the Balearic Islands' working population was 43 years old. Furthermore, the CES had already warned of the aging demographic that the islands would suffer. The retail sector is no exception to these developments, which is why the traditional sector "must adapt to digitalization and reach out to young people. There are already enough factors that make commerce unattractive, and we must work to make it so for future generations," believes the president of Afedeco.

For her part, the Director General of Business, Self-Employed Workers, and Commerce, Pedrona Seguí, explains that the Government has a project called IB Relleu (The Self-Employed Workers' Union) to "reverse" the generational problems faced by small businesses in the islands. "We connect people who, due to a lack of community or an age limit, want to transfer their business with young entrepreneurs. They teach them how to treat customers and how the business works, among other things," she explains. Thanks to this program, five Balearic businesses have been transferred in the first half of 2025. "Small businesses are a representation of who we are, and they can't be stopped," concludes Seguí