Torradas, the bookstore of wonders

Barcelona"Do you have this book?" The customer, with little faith, shows him a photo on her cell phone. And Ricardo exclaims: "Of course you do!" He goes to one of the stacks of books on the counter at the entrance, lifts a few, and takes one. "Here it is." The city of wonders, by Eduardo Mendoza. "Oh! I didn't think so!" says the customer. "Well, it's a complete and utter classic, and it had quite a few issues," replies Ricard.

At the Torradas bookstore and stationery store, on the corner of Comte Borrell and Manso streets, anyone who enters has to know they'll most likely find what they're looking for. And if not, Ricard Torradas is an expert at achieving the impossible. He shows us a package that has just arrived from Italy. It contains two out-of-print books for a customer who was desperate because she couldn't find them anywhere. "I have contacts," explains the business owner, the third generation to run this classic in the Sant Antoni neighborhood, a very special place, a strange and charming anarchy, filled with piles everywhere "that will be better organized at some point in the near future, but the start of the season is a given..." argues Ricard.

In fact, anyone who knows the store already knows where they're going, and that's precisely the charm. The man who goes in to buy four rolls of adhesive tape knows this as much as the man who needs one hundred photocopies of a piece of paper. "It's an organized chaos; I have everything in my head so I can find it right away; otherwise, it would be a disaster."

Torradas has gone through several stages since its founding as a business in 1932. The previous decade, Ricard's grandparents—Josep Torradas and Lluïsa Vilaplana—already had a stall in the Sant Antoni Market, which is right in front of the store. There they sold books, of course, but also all kinds of products related to photography, which over the years has always been one of the mainstays of the business. They once had up to three locations open: one dedicated to stationery and books—which they still have today—another to music (records, cassettes, etc.) and the last, a toy store. The 1960s and 1970s were peak years, but from the last decade of the century, the arrival of the internet and the drop in sales meant they decided to keep just one location.

Ricard has been in charge for almost forty years now, plus all his years as a student, helping and learning. In fact, he studied law for a year, but an accident involving his parents meant he had to prioritize joining the family business. For years, the family combined the shops with stalls at the Sunday market and book fairs when appropriate. Seven days a week. But Ricard decided to slow down a while ago, especially since becoming a grandfather.

He shows me the bookmark he uses as a business card. There's a photo of him with his father and his baby son. Time has passed, and he proudly tells us that in a few days this photo will be updated with a new one: he will be the grandfather.

What's Torradas' secret? Or one of them? As with so many neighborhood businesses of this type, it's something as simple as a friendly, family-oriented approach. Calling customers by name is a simple detail, but it's a statement of principles. They constantly receive orders and try to satisfy them all. It's the formula for dealing with the fierce competition of online sales. In the store, you can find everything. But they don't have all the new releases, far from it; only the essential ones, which Ricard carefully selects because he knows he has customers who might be interested. Puzzle books, coloring books, children's books, notebooks and planners of all kinds, school and office supplies, wrapping paper, educational games, calendars, backpacks... "I have to have a wide selection so customers can choose; that's essential."

For Torradas, a very important factor to keep in mind is belonging to the neighborhood. "In Sant Antoni, we've always had a lot of associations of all kinds, both neighborhood and commercial," she argues. This is a very important value for the survival of local commerce.

There's one detail that has captured my heart: right at the entrance, there's a display overflowing with romance novels. And also a box of old newsstand novels, westerns and detective stories. A vestige of the past that they still preserve is the rental of these types of books! A customer takes ten, pays two euros in rent, and returns them after she's finished reading them. Torradas, the bookstore of wonders.