March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010
August 2010
September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 July 2012 August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 April 2013 May 2013 June 2013 July 2013 August 2013 September 2013 October 2013 November 2013 December 2013 January 2014 February 2014 March 2014 April 2014 May 2014 June 2014 July 2014 August 2014 September 2014 October 2014 November 2014 December 2014 January 2015 February 2015 March 2015 April 2015 May 2015 June 2015 July 2015 August 2015 September 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 January 2016 February 2016 March 2016 April 2016 May 2016 June 2016 July 2016 August 2016 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 May 2017 June 2017 July 2017 August 2017 September 2017 October 2017 November 2017 December 2017 January 2018 February 2018 March 2018 April 2018 May 2018 June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 September 2018 October 2018 November 2018 December 2018 January 2019 February 2019 March 2019 April 2019 May 2019 June 2019 July 2019 August 2019 September 2019 October 2019 November 2019 December 2019 January 2020 February 2020 March 2020 April 2020 May 2020 June 2020 July 2020 August 2020 September 2020 October 2020 November 2020 December 2020 January 2021 February 2021 March 2021 April 2021 May 2021 June 2021 July 2021 August 2021 September 2021 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 April 2022 May 2022 June 2022 July 2022 August 2022 September 2022 October 2022 November 2022 December 2022 January 2023 February 2023 March 2023 April 2023 May 2023 June 2023 July 2023 August 2023 September 2023 October 2023 November 2023 December 2023 January 2024 February 2024 March 2024 April 2024 May 2024 June 2024 July 2024 August 2024 September 2024 October 2024 November 2024 December 2024 January 2025 February 2025
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
News Every Day |

Casa Gorín

A mercería is a sewing shop. You might call it a notions shop in the U.S. or a haberdashery in the U.K. When my boys were small, I frequently bought iron-on knee patches at my local mercería, but you can also pick up a zipper, a spool of thread, or buttons, as well as socks and undergarments, usually for children. If the ferretería (a hardware store) was a man’s domain for the tools and supplies necessary to hold together the pieces of his life—a banging shutter on the house, a loose floorboard, a leaking faucet—then a mercería might be the equivalent supply store for a woman. Ascribing areas of expertise in this way, based on a person’s gender, is less and less observed. Nevertheless, although I’ve often visited a hardware store and seen other women there, I have never seen a man making a purchase in a mercería, nor attending customers in one.

As for that other traditional domain of women, the kitchen, all the gadgets and utensils you need to feed a family are at the hardware store: rubber gaskets for an espresso pot, cookie cutters, cutlery, potato peelers, measuring cups, plastic food-storage containers. I was happy to see, upon moving to La Pola three years ago, that I had a ferretería at one end of the main pedestrian street, three steps from the Plaza les Campes, and a mercería at the other end, on the corner across from the Plaza Cubierta. Both were town institutions, both were founded in the previous century, and both were family businesses, the hardware store run by the graying son of the founder, and the sewing shop still owned by the same family that started the business. Both had survived the pandemic, when many stores closed, and both had held on despite the arrival of the giant French superstores Carrefour and Alcampo and then the newer, smaller German chains Aldi and Lidl, with their weekly offers on household goods. A person sent out with a list of items to buy could get everything, from clothing to tools to food, at one of those chain stores. Contrast that experience with local shopping, stepping into the specialty shop, inquiring of the acquaintance behind the counter about a sick grandson, an old mother, a trip to Cádiz, a new car, or the evening performance last weekend of the Christmas choir. Then answering the pleasant inquiry about the item you purchased a week earlier. In a hurry, you might come bustling into the shop, but there is no rushing the person ahead of you through the round of friendly questions and comments, and no rushing when it’s your turn. When pressed for time, therefore, you’ll choose the 20-minute drive to a mall with a superstore, choosing the charmless self-checkout. Because who has time to chat about life when you need a rubber gasket or vegetable peeler? Hard enough to find time to live life much less talk about it.

Though the hardware store is going strong, the notions shop, called Casa Gorín, is no more, having closed its doors forever on the last day of 2024. It opened in the early ’30s at the same time that the monumental Plaza Cubierta was inaugurated. Ninety years later, it looked its age, dull and shrunken, almost dilapidated, a squat old-fashioned building among taller, newer upstarts.

Some 90 years—93 to be exact—was also the lifespan of Aurina Braga, who 70 years ago married one of the owner’s sons. She met him in the early ’50s, when she visited a friend who was employed at the store to darn socks. Eventually she and her husband became the owners of Casa Gorín. When he died, she kept on alone. Long after she had ceased to wait on customers, she continued to appear at the shop every morning and every afternoon. When I bought some green yarn a year ago to mend a sweater, I saw her seated in her corner, beside the enormous windows giving onto Ildefonso Sánchez del Río Street, with the Plaza Cubierta in the background. She was not doing anything that I could see other than occupying her place, observing who came in and greeting the customers she knew, which was most of them. In August, she died. Was she still coming to the shop at the end? I asked the attendant when I visited the shop a few days before it closed. Oh yes, she always came. What happens to the shop now? I wondered aloud. The heirs would sell the building, the attendant supposed. The location was excellent. Maybe it had already been sold, she didn’t know. They’ll have to preserve the building, won’t they? I asked. But no—no historic landmark designation protected the building. A one-story construction, it was worth much less than the site it occupied. The building would likely be torn down to make room for a newer, taller building, as other relics had been. What a pity, I said. The attendant nodded. She was 60 and had been at the store for 42 years, she told me, and her sister—here she indicated the other attendant, listening to our conversation and nodding—had been there 39.

I had gone in wondering what would become of the building and left wondering what would become of the two sisters. They would likely outlast the building, unlike the founder and the founder’s heirs. They might just decide to consider that a bit of luck.

The post Casa Gorín appeared first on The American Scholar.

Киев

Зеленский счел несерьезным требование Трампа к Киеву вернуть 500 млрд долларов

Asian flag carrier to launch more flights from the UK this summer to bucket list destinations

Hamas claims youngest Israeli hostages aged just 2 & 5 and their mum are all dead leaving Bibas family in ‘turmoil’

How Man Utd could line up in the CHAMPIONSHIP with top stars sold as Rio Ferdinand fears they won’t win another game

Don't let AI phantom hackers drain your bank account

Ria.city






Read also

Nationwide customers should do two things NOW to get £100 bonus this year

Mastercard’s Middle-Market Play Uses Digital Innovation to Bridge Finance Gaps

Marin County waterfalls roar to life after recent rains

News, articles, comments, with a minute-by-minute update, now on Today24.pro

News Every Day

Don't let AI phantom hackers drain your bank account

Today24.pro — latest news 24/7. You can add your news instantly now — here


News Every Day

Asian flag carrier to launch more flights from the UK this summer to bucket list destinations



Sports today


Новости тенниса
Елена Рыбакина

Сенсационный разгром с «баранкой» определил возможную соперницу Елены Рыбакиной на турнире в Дубае



Спорт в России и мире
Москва

КХЛ — 2024/25. «Динамо» Москва — «Сочи». Прямая трансляция: смотреть онлайн



All sports news today





Sports in Russia today

Москва

Просмотр в футбольный клуб: ключевые этапы и роль футбольных агентов


Новости России

Game News

Tribe Nine уже можно предзагрузить на смартфоны и PC


Russian.city


Динамо

КХЛ — 2024/25. «Динамо» Москва — «Сочи». Прямая трансляция: смотреть онлайн


Губернаторы России
Актёр

Консультант Актёра. Консультирование Актёра.


В Екатеринбурге наградили юных звезд на благотворительном фестивале «Добрая волна»

В Курске осужден молодой человек за сбыт фальшивых денег

Разведданные из России способны спасти Дональда Трампа? СЕНСАЦИЯ! Новости. В.В. Путин, Д.А. Медведев, Илон Маск, Дональд Трамп. Россия, США, Европа могут улучшить отношения и здоровье общества?!

Глава КЧР Рашид Темрезов в Москве встретился с Президентом Российской академии наук Геннадием Красниковым


«Марафон романтических сонат» проходит на зимнем фестивале искусств Юрия Башмета

Волочкова обвинила мачеху дочери в зависти

«Гурман из Суконной слободы»: в КИУ презентовали книгу о Фёдоре Шаляпине

Карди Би проводит время с новым возлюбленным. Кто он?


Россиянка Андреева за день выиграла два матча на турнире WTA-1000 в Дубае

Роман Сафиуллин покинул турнир ATP-500 в Дохе, проиграв Алексу де Минору

Медведев отметил положительные аспекты отстранения Синнера

Рублёв вышел в 1/4 финала турнира ATP в Дохе



В Екатеринбурге наградили юных звезд на благотворительном фестивале «Добрая волна»

В Москве и Московской области более 25,5 тысячи многодетных мам досрочно получают пенсию

В Екатеринбурге наградили юных звезд на благотворительном фестивале «Добрая волна»

С 2025 года демобилизованные участники СВО бесплатно могут пройти санаторно-курортное лечение в центрах реабилитации Социального фонда


В Екатеринбурге наградили юных звезд на благотворительном фестивале «Добрая волна»

В Екатеринбурге наградили юных звезд на благотворительном фестивале «Добрая волна»

«Чемпионат»: «Спартак» продвинулся в переговорах по трансферу Саласара

Уральская ТПП запускает новые образовательные проекты по роботизации производственных процессов


Ефимов: город выставил на торги право на развитие 2 участков в Южном Бутове

Проезд по платным дорогам подорожал в России в среднем на 340 рублей

Мультимедийные выставки Музея Победы увидят жители Ямало-Ненецкого автономного округа

Так кто фаворит регулярки? Единая лига выходит на финишную прямую с бешеной интригой!



Путин в России и мире






Персональные новости Russian.city
Жанна Фриске

«Какая-то сплетня очередная»: сестра Фриске отреагировала на новость о смертельной болезни Лисовца



News Every Day

How Man Utd could line up in the CHAMPIONSHIP with top stars sold as Rio Ferdinand fears they won’t win another game




Friends of Today24

Музыкальные новости

Персональные новости