Rosa Sureda: "You have to put in a lot of hours to be self-employed and run a shop"

ManacorWhen at the end of 2015 Rosa Sureda Jaume decided to take over the old neighborhood store, Walt Disney, in Plaça Berard, she was new to the art of attracting customers. “I was very shy at first, and I struggled a lot… not anymore!”. Renamed Botiga Sa Placeta, the present and future of local commerce do not seem to be numbered in Sa Torre.

Do you think neighborhood stores still have a future?

I think so, that little by little they will be put in more and more; because unlike what happens in hypermarkets, here there is warmth. I am very happy with the people, I love them, they love you, they help you, you help them as you can. The truth is that I enjoy it a lot here. In the supermarkets there is always the same temperature, and they don't know you.

When did you arrive here and how was it?

— 10 years ago... in November 2015. Because where I was working things also went wrong and of course, people were leaving and I decided to leave too. I saw that the shop had just been vacated and was empty. I asked the owner if I could use it again for a shop. And then I started right away.

Did I come here to buy before?

— Yes, this shop was called Walt Disney. Many years ago, Magdalena Sansó Melis's parents opened it. I remember that this area was already a shop and the front part was a bookstore with magazines and stationery items: Rubio notebooks, pens, pencils… And people used to come and buy a lot. They had a heater here where the two old people would warm themselves… even on Sundays.

Did you have experience running a business?

— Nothing, nothing at all. What happens is that, of course, after the pearls where she used to work, a person when they are already fifty-something years old, depending on where, they don't get hired. And this happened, that it was empty here and I said: "Why don't you try it?". At first I was scared because I didn't know anything about all this. I was more scared of people than of selling. I had a hard time at first.

What is the relationship with clients?

— With the neighbours I am very happy. One day they stole two bottles of oil from me and a couple went after them. Here, truly, I feel very protected and as I say, it's super important. And nothing, yes, there will be more each time. It's evident that the big shop is done at Mercadona. If they filled two big carts for me, they would empty my shop! [laughs], which would be good for me because in two hours I could close.

What sells the most?

— A bit of fruit, a bit of vegetables, especially forgotten items. Also toilet paper, preserves, a bit of ham, cold cuts, especially, without caring if they take the package or the whole piece of cheese. Water, cool drinks… we also make sandwiches. And everything that is from the bakery. The fruit and vegetables are from proximity, from acquaintances and friends from the countryside.

What time does it make? Is it hard to get up early?

— I work from 5:30 AM to 8:30 PM, stopping for lunch and on Monday and Friday afternoons. I wake up very early. You have to do a lot of work to be self-employed and run a store. At 5:30 AM, the bakers already come, Biel Papa, who is the first to arrive; then Benyó, Montserrat, and the bread from Costitx. A little later I start making sandwiches. They either come to get fruit or vegetables, or they take a coffee on their way to work.

What shops do you remember going to as a child?

— Remember that on Remei de Fartàritx street there were two, one at each end of the block. One was from the small supermarkets and the other I don't remember. But before the supermarkets there were very many in all the neighborhoods.

You should know them all within 10 years…

— To almost everyone. And people I didn't know and who lived on this street, now I know them. As a child, we first lived in Fartàritx, then in Santa Catalina until I was 9 years old, and since then I have always lived in Sa Torre, on Sant Rafel street.