Rosa Sureda: "You have to work many hours to be self-employed and run a store"

ManacorWhen at the end of 2015 Rosa Sureda Jaume decided to take over the old neighborhood store, Walt Disney, in Berard square, she was a novice in the art of managing customers. “I was very shy at first, and I felt a lot of embarrassment… 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 there will be even more; because contrary to what happens in hypermarkets, here it is warm. 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 here a lot. In 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... around November 2015. Because where I worked it also went badly and of course, people were leaving and I decided to leave too. I saw that the store had just been vacated and was empty. I asked the owner if I could use it again for a shop. And suddenly I started.

Did you used to come here to shop before?

— Yes, this store was called Walt Disney. It had been opened many years ago by the father and mother of Magdalena Sansó Melis. 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 came to buy a lot. They had a stretcher here where the two old folks would warm themselves up... Sundays and all.

Did you have experience managing a business?

— Nothing, nothing, not even a little. What happens is that, of course, after the pearls where I worked, a person when they are already fifty-something years old, depending on where, they don't hire them. 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 afraid of people than of not selling. I had a hard time at first.

What is the relationship with the clients?

— With the neighbors I am very happy. One day they stole two bottles of oil from me and a couple went, they came out behind them. Here, really, I feel very protected and I tell you, it's super important. And well, yes, that each time there will be. It's evident that the big shopping is done at Mercadona. If they filled two big carts for me, they would empty my store! [laughs], which would be good for me because with two hours I could close.

What sells the most?

— A little bit of fruit, a little bit of vegetables, mostly carelessness. Also toilet paper, preserves, a little bit of ham, cured meats, mostly, 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 oven. The fruit and vegetables are from nearby, from acquaintances and friends from the mountains.

What are the hours? Is it hard to get up early?

— I work from 5:30 AM to 8:30 PM, stopping for lunch on Mondays 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 to me, at Biel Papa, who is the first one to arrive; then at Benyó, at Montserrat, and the breads from Costitx. A little while later I start making sandwiches. Either they come to pick up 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 on each corner. One was for the sucretes and the other I don't remember. But before the supermarkets there were many in all the neighborhoods.

You should know them all in 10 years…

— To almost everyone. And people I didn't know 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.