Valladolid’s municipal market of La Rondilla is experiencing a vibrant rebirth, with local merchants becoming the subjects of a charming caricature exhibition created by art students. The market, which reopened at the end of September after a three-year renovation, is slowly regaining its footing, but faces challenges with vacant stalls and attracting a new generation of business owners.
A Fresh Face for La Rondilla: Art and Commerce Unite
The market’s revival is being celebrated through art, but filling empty stalls remains a key hurdle.
- The La Rondilla market reopened in late September after three years of construction.
- Art students from the local School of Art have created caricatures of the market’s vendors.
- Merchants cite bureaucracy and a lack of experienced labor as obstacles to filling vacant positions.
- A new cafeteria, led by Aleida Camacho, is among the recent additions to the market.
- City officials are promoting the market and offering support to attract new businesses.
Ana and Domingo, the fishmongers from position number 10, have posed for the pencils of Tomás Alonso, Yaiza Carretero, and Zoe Micaela Mitma. Xavier Serrada, from Aceitunas Ávila (position 2), smiled for the portrait that Marcos Rodríguez dedicated to him. Marta Sánchez has been in charge of capturing the expression on the face of Tomás, from the El Faro fishmonger. Edith Silvares and Adela Pérez have given their gaze to Beatriz, from La Hacienda del Pan.
Rodrigo Jimenez
“All campaigns that serve to promote the market are well received,” explains Javier Serrada, president of the market’s vendors, noting that currently only seven of the sixteen positions are occupied. “People are getting used to coming to the market, but we need to fill the vacant positions.” He points to two significant hurdles for potential merchants: bureaucratic delays and a shortage of skilled labor.
“The first is bureaucracy. The procedures are very slow. For everything,” Serrada elaborated. “For example, it has taken us a long time to have the loading and unloading signs painted, we still do not have bins and only a month ago they installed the benches for us.”
The lack of experienced entrepreneurs is another concern. “It is very difficult to find self-employed people willing to start a business,” adds Tomás Casero, from the El Faro fishmonger. “Businesses work, but you have to be brave. There is no generational change. We notice it in the fishmongers because when one closes, there is no one willing to continue with the business.” Casero is optimistic that the market’s offerings will soon expand with the addition of fruit shops and delicatessens.
A new cafeteria, led by Aleida Camacho, is also opening its doors. City officials are encouraging a diverse range of businesses, including florists, hairdressers, drugstores, and haberdasheries, to consider La Rondilla as a location.
“We need to give the market more promotion, so that the neighbors know that, after three years closed, we have returned,” says Ana Isabel Martín Maesto, from the V fishmonger in Palma. “In this time, the merchants had to rent premises in the neighborhood as an alternative. We have seen how some of the regular clients have not been able to return (because they have died, they are in nursing homes…). But we do notice that more young people are coming. And that is important.”
Beatriz López, while shipping loaves of bread, adds, “Every start-up is complicated, but we are going little by little.” The caricature exhibition, coordinated by teachers Mónica Sastre and Sandra León, is part of a broader effort by the City Council to revitalize local commerce and introduce younger generations to the benefits of shopping at the municipal market.