The Riera sisters are leaving Las Verduras after a 70-year family tradition of running the market.

PalmIt's a rainy day in the square. It's 9 a.m., and the Manacor Vegetable Market (officially, Plaza de la Constitución), very close to the center, is nearly empty. On the upper side, the Riera sisters, Bel (1974) and Joana (1975), have already set up their awning and arranged their produce. Like every Saturday since they were old enough to understand. But today isn't just any day, and it seems that both the weather and the atmosphere (customers arrive steadily, but one by one) know it's the last.

For over 70 years, the Riera Font family has held their market, uninterrupted, in the Manacor Vegetable Market. A tradition that comes to an end now, as the year draws to a close, on the last weekend of a journey that runs from Son Pere Andreu (near the fork in the road from Manacor towards Petra) to their hometown. A cut that feels as serious as the lack of a replacement and the time needed to keep everything up to date and avoid exhaustion.

"Everything helps to make a mess of things," they reply, kindly but sadly. "Being producers, doing the market, being part of the Organic Farmers Cooperative of Mallorca, and having to prepare produce two days a week... it's all too much work, and at 50 years old, we've reached a point where we need to slow down a bit, catch our breath, and live more peacefully without so much hustle and bustle." In any case, they will continue to do the market in Artà on Tuesdays and every Thursday in Sant Llorenç.

"It's true that this is the slowest market in terms of sales, but it's our town, and we felt terrible about leaving... we've come here all our lives, every Saturday without fail," they add while attending to customers, who are also sad and "not very convinced" by their reasoned explanations. "We also don't want to drag another generation along if they don't want to. We maintain a fast pace during the week and we believe we should take a break on weekends."

More than seven decades ago, their godfather, Martí Font, would come by cart to the Vegetable Market to sell the produce he grew. The old market, though ungainly and aesthetically improvable, was always packed. On Saturdays, well into the 1980s, it was so crowded it was practically empty, "just like now," they joke, "to the point that we only had two meters of space for each farmer."

"Our mother, Magdalena, took over for many, many years. First by cart, then by tractor, and finally by car or van." Then came their father, Jaume, who still helps them constantly and wholeheartedly: "He's the real driving force behind everything." In those years, there wasn't a wholesaler or shop "in all the towns of the Levante region" that didn't go to the market to buy produce and resell it.

A complicated decision

"We've known this since the end of October. Summer is a lot of work and you end up exhausted," says Joana, "that's when we decided to let go of some of the many projects we have going on." A difficult decision. They'll miss the everyday interaction and the nostalgia of a time replaced by more impersonal shopping methods.

"The best thing about the market is the contact with people, the pride of being able to sell what you produce yourself. Seeing a product live and fresh is something else, a very different way of shopping," they insist. "It's true that this market is struggling... but it's the same with all the others. Before the pandemic, we also used to go to the market in Felanitx on Sundays, but not anymore; it wasn't feasible. People go where it's most convenient for them; they have a different pace of life."

"The biggest problem, however, I think, is generally the lack of generational replacement and the fact that everyone wants an 8-to-3 workday and to forget about work the rest of the day. Just look at vocational training; there are fewer and fewer carpenters or mechanics. Of course, everyone wants a career, naturally. It's a demanding one," replies Joana, who for years combined her studies with teaching, first in Sa Pobla and then at the Sa Graduada school in Manacor. "It's what I've always known and loved. Being outdoors, in contact with nature. That doesn't change."

A square that sleeps

The Plaza de las Verduras (Vegetable Market Square) has been struggling for decades. The increase in large supermarkets and the lack of parking and opening hours are hindering a space based on traditional seasonal produce. That's why, two months ago, the City Council raised the possibility of extending its opening hours into the afternoons. As the councilor responsible for the square, Paula Assegurado, explained at the October plenary session: "It's a market problem: to promote local produce, if we don't adapt to the new schedules of citizens who now shop in the evenings as well... it will be a problem." And indeed, the appearance of the Plaza de las Verduras, both in terms of customers and the number of stalls occupied, is a far cry from what the Manacor fruit and vegetable market offered until the 1990s, when it closed for a complete renovation that has never pleased either the public or the market itself. This modernization was accompanied by the continued rise of supermarkets and the decline of local shops.

13 stops

Currently, the Verduras market has 13 active weekly stalls. However, this is somewhat nuanced, as almost half of these stalls are only occupied on Saturdays. So, during the week, there are actually only 7 active stalls, and only in the mornings.

"Before, the parking spaces surrounding the market were taken up by vehicles that didn't move all week. That's why we created the 'magenta zone,'" explains Mayor Miquel Oliver. This new system offers certain parking spaces in the center of Manacor at reduced prices in exchange for limiting parking time to one hour. "Furthermore, you can reach the market by car via a road outside the residents' priority zone, without worrying about the security camera," adds Assegurado.

Currently, depending on whether it's a single or double stall and its size, farmers who want to operate a stall in Manacor must pay between 50 and 138 euros per month, including electricity and water. "Imagine the savings compared to a commercial space in the city center. This means many businesses don't open during the established hours and only use them as cheap storage."

This situation has reached the City Council's legal department, which has managed, for the time being, to terminate the contracts of two of these spaces, "because they were harming other businesses on the waiting list," Oliver said in October. The mayor also questioned the customer base of many Palma markets "that rely on gastronomy, being essentially high-end restaurants in disguise, and with products that local businesses often lack."