Bolets Petràs, one of the most emblematic stalls of the Mercat de la Boqueria, temporarily lowers the shutter after more than 50 years selling fresh and wild mushrooms. The reason: to reinvent itself and adapt to a new public, the tourist.
After decades of being one of the major suppliers to the catering industry but also one of the few remaining icons of a Boqueria that no longer exists, where the locals went to look for hard-to-find products, Petràs will close to reopen, in a few months, aimed at what is already the main public of the market, the tourist.
In statements to various media, those responsible say that the stop “looks like a museum” and that every day they have to deal with tour operators who fill the stop with people who look, do not buy and block the way to other potential buyers.
The real business, in the restaurants
For more than 50 years, Petràs has been a must-visit destination for chefs, gourmets and lovers of local produce. But the change in the profile of the Boqueria’s visitors, increasingly oriented to the fleeting tourism of photos and selfies, has pushed the business to turn around. The owners of the stall themselves have stated in various reports that tourists only came to their stall to take pictures, but did not buy anything.
The new stand will reopen in half a year or more, will say goodbye to the traditional mountains of fresh mushrooms and will opt for a more modern format, with display cases, terrines and dry product, designed for immediate tasting and quick purchase.
The 867 stop of the most famous market in Barcelona is now at half throttle, dispatching only professional orders, while preparing for a reopening that clearly aims to conquer the palate of the international visitor.
Thus, the business will maintain, on the one hand, its visible face to the public and on the other, its main source of income, the supply to restaurants, will be made to a warehouse from where they already supply more than 100 restaurants a day.
Even so, the history of Bolets Petràs is only a reflection of the transformation of the Boqueria, which for years has lost its spirit of neighborhood market to become the meat of tourism, which may leave a lot of money in other areas of the city, but in what was once the most beautiful market in the world they leave more photos than spending.