We live in the Bucharest district of Vitan. Very much unloved, and by no means the most salubrious part of Romania’s capital it nevertheless serves as home, and we kind of like it.
Close to the city centre it is blessed with decent transport links, and, as it is close to the school our son attends, we really can’t complain. And though not without its local hooligans, like most parts of Bucharest it is about as safe as you could wish for.
For many, the main attraction of the area is of course the Bucuresti Mall – now with added Zara – and though we are hardly fans of shopping malls we have to admit it’s handy to have it so close when you remember at 9:30pm that you’ve run out of nappies or milk.
The area also benefits from Piata Vitan, a brilliant, civilised market that besides selling fruit and vegetables has loads of those little shops selling the useful crap you just don’t find anywhere else (zips, shoelaces etc.).
Doughnuts not pictured
It also has a first class gogoserie selling hot chocolate and jam doughnuts. Sunday mornings were not Sunday mornings without bringing the kids here for doughnuts.
So, as per, on Sunday morning we trotted off to the market to buy spuds, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes and kilos of doughnuts. (Bucharest’s supermarkets stock poor quality fruit and vegetables, which is why you have to buy them at a market).
What did we find when we got there?
Doughnuts still not pictured
From one week to the next, with no prior warning, Piata Vitan had been closed. It had all happened four days previously, with no prior warning for shoppers, stallholders or shop owners. A few stallholders were selling produce outside, but – according to the one we spoke to – they can only do so for two weeks. After that, they need to find a new market, or are buggered. It’s curtains, basically.
As for the doughnut shop, or the shop selling big pork knuckles, or the man who used to fix watch straps, or the other chap who used to cut keys…. Not even two weeks’ grace. All gone immediately, and for good.
And what will we get in exchange?
A Mega Image supermarket.
At least smoking is still banned
Now, we do not mind Mega Image. It sells a good range of imported stuff (Lurpak butter for example) the bigger supermarkets do not. Had they decided to open up next to the market we would have been delighted. It would also have been fair game: a battle for shoppers who would have had the choice of supermarket or market.
Instead though there is no choice. It’s Mega Image or nowt. (Nowt is what it will be: we will go to another market, even though the closest is now some distance away).
Sympathy most of course must go to the stallholders. Well and truly screwed, every one, with life turned on its head from one day to the next. (Conflict of interest alert: Bucharest Life is the son of a costermonger and spent his school holidays as a teenager selling vegetables. Happy days indeed, so we are unashamedly biased in reporting this story).
Lastly though, we have to ask the obvious question: Where is the Romanian press when you need it? I mean, this is not a minor story: big, central, popular Bucharest market closed without any prior notice to make way for supermarket. Hundreds of livelihoods threatened. And yet… Nothing. Not one word (at least not that we could find).
Where is the Romanian press when you need it?
With its head up its arse talking about politics, that’s where.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Not sure I would say that supermarkets rip people off. They have contributed more than other part of the retail sector in making food cheaper for billions of people. Look at the UK, where food is now so cheap people can afford to waste tons of it every year. Supermarkets helped to do that. Imagine a world in which everyone could afford to waste so much, instead of struggling to make ends meet. That would be a world without want.
Problem is, this only happens where the free market is allowed to operate properly and fairly, when there is competition. What happened at Piata Vitan was not fair competition: indeed, because the supermarket is replacing the market, no competition at all.
And here is a timely piece on supermarkets from Spiked.
I adore markets. I prefer to shop there than at the super market. It’s a shame to see places just “vanish” from one day to another. It’s the same all over the country.
What sucks is that markets, green parks and historical buildings are torn down to let such “commercial centers” rip us off.
Could the lack of media interest be due to the fact that most Romanian journos seem to think market stalls are primitive and supermarkets and malls are modern?
While there is no question of the fact that the Romanian media in general views anything remotely modern such as supermarkets as intrinsically brilliant (and not without reason – I am not against them, just against them replacing markets instead of complementing them), I think this is more a case – as @Dragos pointed out – that it simply doesn’t ‘do’ local news. Ever seen a local paper in Bucharest?
I did. I think it was my last good idea. Though would kind of ruin it if in episode 2 the goverment bulldozed the entire market and plonked a supermarket in its place.
@AnnDee – I did not mean do-nut…
@parmalat – If my memory serves me well @geronimo once had the idea of setting a soap opera in southern Bucharest and calling it Piata Sudului. I know for a fact ‘Big Ron’ would not stand for any of this.
Really, I understand what you’re going through right now!
I would be dead if there were no Piata Sudului from tomorrow. Luckily I have another market at just about the same distance, but still…
Yes, that’s a real social drama for tens of thousands of people who used to shop there, the press should intervene!
And for the ones with the bright idea of destroying the market, a warm romanian wishing “MULTA MULTA …. sanatate ! lor si intregii familii”
@AnnDee. I don’t think he does
you mean donut surely
Probably the money prevailed and the city council got a hefty piece for the megaimage deal.
However, I doubt there was more than the usual red tape involved and such things dont represent a local media priority since, well, forever. Because, lets be honest, when did you notice that the local authorities or media represent the interest of the local community or of Romanians in general? Been living here forever and hardly can remember any case. Its sad but true
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