Barcelona is regarded as the ultimate market city. It has a
large number of markets catering to local demand as well as tourists and is
often viewed as a model for markets in other major cities. But just how appropriate
is the Barcelona model for cities like Melbourne?
A number of QVM executives have just returned from a major markets conference in Barcelona and we will be very interested to get their views but in the meantime an article by a couple of researchers at Leeds University in UK attempts to draw parallels with markets in the UK.
Barcelona has been praised for the amount of money and
expertise it has invested in markets. Of the 40 or so markets in the city, 20
have been modernised and others are scheduled for modernisation. Some of its
markets are described as “up-market” and this has drawn criticism that they are too
gentrified and perhaps too expensive. The introduction of supermarkets into the
market complexes has drawn criticism as has the emphasis on tourism. Barcelona reportedly
draws 7.5m visitors per year and is the tenth most visited city in the world.
The UK study pointed out that Barcelona doesn’t have a strong immigrant
population unlike many areas in the UK where low income immigrants are looking
for low cost shopping and even low capital investment opportunities for setting
up a market business.
The UK article points out that the customer base of central
urban markets could be quite different to peripheral neighbourhood markets and
therefore it is difficult to generalise. In Melbourne’s case it might raise the
question of whether a renewal at QVM with its CBD location and changing
customer base might be quite different to the circumstances at a location like
Dandenong. Is QVM more appropriate for an urban based market model and
Dandenong more appropriate for an immigrant based model?
We understand that Barcelona markets are very successful. Nearly
40 markets in one city says a lot. However, attempting to transpose the
Barcelona experience to other cities without careful evaluation would seem to be
silly. Learning from the Barcelona markets and critically evaluating their
characteristics would seem to be smart. It is difficult to ignore success.
