The traditional neighborhood greengrocers celebrate this Sunday the Day of the Greengrocer with a vindication of their good work, since their personalized treatment offers the consumer advantages to be able to achieve the increasingly sought-after healthy diet, with fruits and vegetables at their optimum ripening time .
February 6, 2022
Epheager
«The public is better served in small businesses, because here, the one who buys knows what he buys, you don’t wait in line to pay, you don’t take what you don’t want and you do take what you want, and on top of that we give it to you for the day you go to eat it, not like that of the big chains, that you put it in the fridge and in the end you throw it away».
This is how resounding the owner of the legendary store Frutas Vázquez has shown himself, Felix Vazquez, on the occasion of the celebration of Saint Dorothea, patron saint of greengrocers and florists, which in Spain has taken center stage thanks to the Italian apple brand Val Venosta, which has been supporting its celebration for seven years.
For this occasion, they have devised a change of roles for a day between the Madrid greengrocer and the singer and “Influencer” Natalia, who has encouraged neighborhood greengrocers to spread the benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables on social networks, “now that healthy diets are so fashionable among young people.”
The greengrocer Félix Vázquez and the singer Natalia at the entrance of Frutas Vázquez. Epheagro/Val Venosta
Vazquez, now septuagenarian, He was born in the greengrocer that he runs in Madrid’s Calle de Ayala “due to life circumstances”, since, as he explained to Epheagro, “formerly the stores had housing«, a space that has incorporated the business to the public.
Among his clients are members of royalty, ambassadors, soccer players -including “Beckham’s wife, chased by paparazzi”-, bullfighters and five-star hotel chains, “the most select tables in Spain«, since Frutas Vázquez has specialized in selling the best quality and flavor range.
In their offer they are not lacking during all year cherries, either domestically produced or imported, or caramel flavored grapes for New Year’s Eve; now there are more than ten to choose from tomato varieties or the new ones white strawberries, «that with the red ones you can make a red and white flag», he commented with a laugh.
A job with many hours of dedication
The manager of the network of neighborhood greengrocers The cousins, Rachid Hajaj, explained to Efeagro that, with the crisis, they perceive that the customer buys more looking at the price, and that for the company, the rise in electricity, fuel and wages make it more difficult activity that, due to its schedules, “is very hard«.
And it is that, as the vice president of the National Federation of Fruit and Vegetable Retailers explained to Efeagro, Javier Iglesias, the A greengrocer’s work day begins at dawn, from Monday to Saturday, with the purchase of goods in the different wholesale markets of the Mercasa network.
Iglesias, who also chairs the Madrid association of greengrocers (Adefrutas), has recognized that these hours mean that there is little generational relief in a markedly family business and that, furthermore, it is “difficult to find someone who likes to be a greengrocer” in an activity in which there is a lot of turnover.
A key customer for shopping
The Association of Wholesale Entrepreneurs of the Central Fruit Market of Madrid (Asomafrut) also wanted to join in the celebration of the Day of the Greengrocer, a figure that for the fruit and vegetable stalls of Mercamadrid is a «core customer«.
«The clear decreased consumption of fruit and vegetables in the last 20 years, the pressure from large surfaces and low generational change has led to considerably reduce the number of greengrocers in Madrid”, sources from this organization have told Efeagro.
According to your data, Some 15 years ago, traditional neighborhood greengrocers accounted for nearly 60% of “aisle” sales at wholesale stalls, and today they barely reach 35%, since part of the offer has been directed to other self-service fruit and vegetable sales in the neighborhood.