It opened on the finish of the sixties, when Barcelona was nonetheless a tragic, grey metropolis empty of vacationers, nevertheless it had such trendy and cosmopolitan areas, corresponding to Tuset Road, the Cova del Drac, or the Bocaccio nightclub, the place you possibly can breathe the contemporary air coming from Europe.
It opened on the finish of the sixties, when Barcelona was nonetheless a tragic, grey metropolis empty of vacationers, nevertheless it had such trendy and cosmopolitan areas, corresponding to Tuset Road, the Cova del Drac, or the Bocaccio nightclub, the place you possibly can breathe the contemporary air coming from Europe. It was the Barcelona of the gauche divine, that of the nova canço; the Barcelona of the Drugstore, the preferred procuring heart of the second. A pioneer in Spain, the Drugstore on Paseo de Gracia was an emblematic venue, a labyrinth of mini retailers and bars that crammed this road with gentle and shade for 20 years, 24 hours a day, on daily basis of the 12 months.
The thought got here from Paris, imported by Luís Sentís Anfruns, a businessman with a great nostril for enterprise who was enthusiastic concerning the drugstore on the Champs Elysees, impressed in flip by these shops within the cities of the American West the place the stranger may at all times discover the whole lot at any time. To carry the mannequin to Barcelona, Sentís contacted Oscar Molinari and his mom, Carolina Herrera, (aunt of the style designer), Venezuelans, whom he satisfied to guess collectively on the topic at 50%.
Situated at quantity 71 Paseo de Gracia, with entry additionally by way of Paseo Domingo, the primary Drugstore in Barcelona, designed by the architect Peter Harnden, was a fully new institution that set tendencies. It was geared up with every kind of outlets: stationery, bookstore, present gadgets, toys, devices, data, perfumery, boutique, tobacconist, electronics, newsstand, lottery, delicatessen, bars, restaurant and, what was its fundamental attribute, Completely open, they solely closed one hour, from six to seven within the morning, for cleansing. That Drugstore was, within the phrases of Arcadio Espada, a metropolis inside one other, and at daybreak it was the one metropolis.
It was inaugurated in June 1967, with an enormous social gathering attended by a large illustration of celebrities, Salvador Dalí, Xavier Cugat and the actor Georges Hamilton, amongst others: “Dalí appeared along with his strawberry tie, with Gala, wearing vivid yellow , a younger pal and a small ocelot,” reported La Vanguardia.
Getting right here had not been straightforward, "acquiring the permits to open 24 hours a day was essentially the most difficult half - remembers Luís Sentís Hortet, son of the proprietor - it was lastly achieved due to acquiring the denomination of vacationer curiosity for the undertaking."
One other of the issues they encountered was the pharmacy, a component thought-about of important significance in this sort of enterprise that, on this case, didn't meet the gap required by the rules. “Learning the difficulty, we found that pharmacists from Morocco who moved to the peninsula have been exempt from stated rules – says Luís Sentís - whole, that I went to Ceuta and Melilla searching for a candidate. I received one, mr. Rico, we processed the allow with him they usually gave it to him, however we had all the School of Pharmacy towards us.”
The shops have been managed immediately by the corporate, so to cowl 24 hours, three shifts of workers have been required. “The gross sales clerks who labored going through the general public have been women, all very fairly, tall, skinny and uniformed with a pistachio inexperienced miniskirt mannequin designed by Paco Rabanne. The workplace was situated within the attic and we didn't have a lot of a relationship with them – remembers Rosa María Escriche, the Drugstore's administration secretary –. Through the years that I labored on the Drugstore, from earlier than it opened till 1973, the ambiance was excellent, it was the trendy place, and everybody used to return right here, from the intellectuals to the poshest girls and boys. from the town."
The success led Sentís to repeat his expertise in Madrid and, in November 1971, he opened the Drugstore on Calle Fuencarral, a real establishment through the Nineteen Seventies.
They have been very intense years. On the terrace, lined in winter, the one one on Paseo de Gracia, style exhibits, film premieres, document signings with stay performances by essentially the most sought-after artists of the second have been organized and, for Sant Jordi, the The deployment was brutal, "Carlos Barral inaugurated it with a speech and, at midnight we began promoting books, plenty of writers and journalists got here," says Luís Sentís.
The literary critic J.Ernesto Ayala Dip, at the moment an evening clerk at this bookstore, labored at considered one of these occasions, particularly on the Sant Jordi pageant in 1971, “that day my ground supervisor ordered me to look at the doorway to the terrace cowl that the institution had on the sidewalk – Ayala Dip wrote in considered one of his chronicles – The order needed to do with some literary talks that the Drugstore itself had organized on the event of E-book Day. The clergymen of the Latin American literary growth plus some others not so well-known or acknowledged have been invited to those talks. Writers that I learn or had learn and admired, some greater than others. That night time I noticed all of the greats, I virtually brushed towards them.”
The Drugstore bookstore was a real benchmark in Barcelona, “the phrase unfold that prohibited books have been being offered and we had fixed inspections by the Ministry, and it additionally grew to become the epicenter of theft. I believe they stole extra books from us than we offered,” says Luís Sentís. The reality is that the enterprise concept was excellent, however administration was troublesome, you needed to know the whole lot, contact many keys, and the ambiance degenerated. When all of the nightlife venues closed, the Drugstore grew to become a haven for night time owls, the place for the previous couple of drinks for a troublesome viewers.
The disaster of 1973-74 affected him totally. The discussions between the companions have been fixed, lastly the Molinari withdrew. “I hadn't been within the enterprise for years now – remembers Luís Sentís – however issues went very badly for my father, they have been fairly troublesome instances and, in 1978, the Drugstore was left by the workers led by our director on the time, Mario Boet.”
Thus begins a brand new stage for the Drugstore on Paseo de Gracia which, by then, had already created a faculty: the Drugstore Liceo (1972) on La Rambla, the Drugstore David (1973) on Tuset road, and the Drag Blau (1973). in Lesseps sq..
With the change in possession, the unique Drugstore additionally modified its model of enterprise. Mario Boet rented the premises, and subleased the shops to 3rd events. With out the glamor of the primary years and with the services already fairly dilapidated, the institution nonetheless continued to meet its function in catering to the whims of the clerks and financial institution staff who moved alongside this road, and at night time it grew to become the final stronghold of drug addicts, drunkards, prostitutes and hustlers.
"Although safety guards have been employed, the nights have been very difficult, there have been at all times issues," says Nacho Borrell, who rented the bookstore throughout these years. "The bookstore labored like a cannon, we did not cease," he remembers - Within the morning The residents of the neighborhood would come, and the workers from the workplaces. Within the afternoon it was one other scene, García Márquez lived throughout the road and introduced his buddies, writers would come, we'd chat. From twelve at night time or one within the morning, the general public of intercourse and medicines got here and acquired their tales, comics, erotic books... these folks spent, they took the books 5 by 5. On weekends, straightforward books have been required for the households that left mass. They have been three bookstores in a single and we saved altering the tables relying on the time. We had three eight-hour shifts and two folks in every one, doubled on holidays and weekends, that's, there have been ten folks and me, who got here and went. A horrible group chart, nevertheless it labored very properly, we purchased the information 150 at a time, and on Sundays we offered about 1,500 Vanguards, earlier than midnight there was already a queue of individuals ready for the press.”
The document retailer and the present store have been additionally in operation, however the remainder fell into frank decline. The top got here to the Drugstore in 1992, by eviction from the lease. "Mario Boet charged the tenants a lump sum on the time, however he didn't pay the lease - says Nacho Borrell - the homeowners of the farm, the Bassols household, didn't renew the lease." It was the 12 months, 1992, the 12 months of the Olympic Video games, one other Barcelona had been born.
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