The Els Ferrans pharmacy, more than 150 years in Les Corts

BarcelonaFerran Oller has broken with family tradition. His son was named Nilo and not Fernando, like him, his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather. The Oller family owns the Farmacia Oller, also known as Farmacia Antigua de Les Corts, at number 3 in the Plaça de la Concordia since 1860. Concordia is a concept that goes very well with pharmacy. A true institution of family business in Barcelona, ​​four generations of pharmacists grafted with love for the profession, proximity to customers and the vocation to help, listen, recommend and advise with all the nuances that pharmaceutical prescription allows. The premises underwent a comprehensive reform, but retains the vestiges of the past that inject it with a special personality. They call it boot,Spanish word with no clear translation into Catalan. These are the old pharmacy jars and bottles, those unmistakable ceramic utensils for storing ingredients, herbs, liniments... all kinds of healing products. There are also boxes of old medicines that coexist with shelves full of Frenadol, ibuprofen, Gelocatil, plasters, Thrombocid and Espidifen. What are the most requested medicines? "Above all painkillers and flu medicines, but it depends a lot on the season we are in," explains Ferran. Also anti-anxiety and antidepressant drugs: "Now the health system is more sensitive to treating mental health than it was thirty years ago, so this type of medicine is prescribed more."

As we speak, we have to pause because a client asks Ferran to help her in French and we also have the very pleasant surprise of a mother who comes into the back room – where they have the scales – to check the weight of her baby. They also offer the classic services of blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol control and guidance with breathing inhalers. They have also diversified their business into the field of orthopaedics. In fact, just a few metres away they have another premises for this activity. Ferran has lived the trade all his life. Especially since the family came to live on the floor above, in the early nineties. The mother, Helena, was dedicated to customer service behind the counter and the father focused his efforts on clinical analyses, a service that they no longer offer because pharmacies hardly do it anymore and it is the laboratories and mutual insurance companies that people turn to.

Ferran is clear about his non-negotiable model: proximity to people, personal treatment. "People usually have their pharmacy of reference and expect your support, the explanation of the new medicine that they have been prescribed and that, perhaps due to lack of time, the doctor has not been able to explain to them as well as he would have liked." For 80% of the people who enter the premises, they are their reference. The connection with pharmacies, obviously, has to do with geographical proximity, with the neighborhood, but not only with the person who lives on the corner, two steps away, but also with those who live perhaps a little further away, but it is precisely because they are their reference. "The pharmacist is the guarantor of the medicine and we have the privilege of being able to share with people their ailments, problems and headaches."

Some historical details. Oller Pharmacy was the first in the Les Corts neighbourhood. During the Civil War, his great-grandfather gave a lot of support to people with few resources and had to suffer for his political neutrality in the conflict. Àngel Mur Sr., a historic Barça masseur, bought the liniments from Oller for the recovery and treatment of players' injuries. The pandemic was a disaster for all those who, from the pharmacies, had to contribute decisively to calming it down. It is impossible to forget those months, every day behind the counter: the restriction of masks and hydroalcoholic ice, the gloves, the disposable gowns, the shifts one by one, the chairs and the tent outside on the street to offer comfort if you had to wait a while. And the covid pots, of course: many people did not know how to make them and there they helped them as they could.

The pharmacy's team is made up of six people. They also offer beauty products, cosmetics, dermocosmetics, nutrition, body and dental hygiene, which are subject to strong competition from perfumeries, supermarkets and online sales platforms: "There are still many people who trust us, and what we can advise them, more than Mr. Amazon."