Malaga's Atarazanas market traders vote on whether to open afternoons

Food and drink

Many stallholders are against this proposal, because that would imply hiring more employees and increasing operating costs

Antonio M. Romero

The possibility of opening the Atarazanas market in Malaga city centre in the afternoons is an option that traders periodically review. On Tuesday, they will once again explore it as one of the agenda items at the annual meeting, as head of the Atarazanas vendors association David Ruiz Morales has told SUR.

The proposal, which has both support and opposition, originated within the hospitality businesses in the market. Other sources have said that the proposal has the support of some other business owners as well.

For the proposal to go ahead, it requires the support of a supermajority of 75 per cent of the stallholders, based on the market's operating rules. Given that the market, which has the capacity to house 266 stalls, currently has around 100 stallholders (eight of whom are hospitality businesses), more than 75 of them would need to support the initiative for it to be approved.

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Ruiz Morales believes it is unlikely the proposal will receive approval. Several merchants SUR spoke to shared this sentiment and opposed the extended opening hours. The main reason for their rejection? Most of the stallholders are self-employed, with long family traditions running the business (some are second or third generation), but no employees. Extending the working day would require hiring more staff, resulting in increased expenses.

Although the official opening hours of the Atarazanas market are from 9am to 2pm, Monday to Saturday, the workday begins earlier for fruit, vegetable and fish vendors, who purchase their produce at Mercamálaga or the fish markets earlier in the morning.

The workday continues after closing time with the cleaning up of their stalls. Some vendors work around ten hours a day, making an extension of opening hours "difficult" without new hires.

Some stallholders also attribute their preference to the fact that the people of Malaga are not used to going to food markets in the afternoon. For many of them, the main complaint nowadays is not so much the extension of opening hours as the massive influx of tourists.

The fact that the central market building is another tourist attraction in the city (it is a cultural heritage site) has led to the constant presence of tourists who, camera in hand, hardly buy anything. At the same time, their presence discourages locals from going to the market to buy groceries.