“These are arrimaderos,” explain Montserrat Coral and Òscar Vidal, mother and son, third and fourth generation of Ceràmiques Coral. Arrimaderos, yes, ceramic compositions that reach up to halfway up the wall and are very typical decorations of the modernist era. But what are they called in Catalan? Arrambadors doesn’t sound particularly good, it seems like a Hispanism, but, yes, that’s what they are called. At Ceràmiques Coral, they have a few arrambadors on display and they have restored a lot of them, replacing original pieces with very well-made modern replicas. They are also experts in hydraulic mosaic, that element so identified with the floors of houses and apartments from the early twentieth century. They show me a couple of old tiles that are ready to be sent to the workshop: the client needs to reproduce one square meter of tiling, which is equivalent to about twenty-five tiles. One tile will be used to analyze the colors they need and the other will serve as a model for the composition and the border. A costly commission, not so common. The most common commission they receive is tiling floors or walls with modern tiles. Renovations at home? Complete renovation for a new residence? Well, you will very likely need the services of a company like Coral.

What is urban fashion? Also known as street wear or street fashion? It is that aesthetic of clothing originating from the United States in the eighties, from the urban tribes of that time, from breakdance fashion. It consists of wearing jeans combined with a tracksuit jacket, a baseball cap, a sweatshirt with the logo of baseball or basketball teams, Puma sneakers, and clothing brands like Lois. Greatly influenced by cinema, by films like Porky's and Teen Wolf – the jacket worn by Michael J. Fox is pure street wear–, by Boy George, by George Michael. The Wrangler jeans that Freddy Mercury wore at Queen's legendary performance at the Live Aid concert in 1985 at Wembley Stadium. Or the yellow Champion t-shirt that he himself made very fashionable. Or when he wore Puma sneakers and Adidas signed him. Who wore Lois and made the brand famous? Well, Abba, Rod Stewart, John Lennon, and Johan Cruyff.

A customer enters A la Premsa d’Aquell Dia, a fascinating, captivating, indispensable shop at Joaquim Costa street 44, a Barcelona classic. He asks Àgata if she has any newspaper from June 28, 1957. She consults the volumes, handmade, indecipherable to anyone not from the house, and immediately finds that, from the requested day, they have the Diari de Barcelona, La Vanguardia and Abc. The customer is unsure if the recipient of the gift will prefer La Vanguardia or Abc, and Àgata offers to show him both copies. We accompany him to the warehouse. He climbs the two shelves – from floor to ceiling – where the newspapers should be. And, indeed, he finds them right away.

From Basar Vidal you leave with a frying pan, a knife, a saucepan, a set of pastry molds, a peeler, a shopping cart, or whatever. But above all, you leave having received a masterclass in cooking, practical advice to be as well-equipped as you wish, to optimize all resources, to obtain the best performance from the famous quality-price equation. Marc Vidal and his father Juanjo – now retired, but still occasionally seen – are the second and third generations of the family business. Well, strictly speaking, the fourth, since the founder was, in 1952, Juanjo's father, but it was the grandfather who, in Cerdanya, opened the first family grocery store. Then, already in Barcelona, two more establishments dedicated to food until the specialization in general store arrived at the corner of Tamarit with Urgell, where even today they are a true pillar of the Sant Antoni neighborhood.

If it were possible to travel to the past, one would have to visit Els Petits Encants first. In fact, it would be essential. The shop in Basses de Sant Pere in Barcelona, run for twenty years by Francesc Raich i Puig, is a true institution in the Ribera neighborhood, an emblematic, beloved space, an oasis, a watchtower, a place to get lost for hours. All at once. Everything is objects from the past, as is the custom in these fascinating and fabulous places we call encants.

On Provença street, almost at the corner with Roger de Llúria, there is a treasure. A Barcelonian treasure that is over a hundred years old. It is the Boileau publishing house, the oldest active music publisher in the State. A whole institution, a benchmark and a guarantee of quality both in the editing and in the dissemination of music for all kinds of audiences. Entering their shop is like taking an authentic leap back in time. Inaugurated in 1939 and designed following the inspiration of the GATCPAC architectural movement, it has been preserved just as it was on the first day.

The first steps you take when you enter Puzzlemania is to step on a puzzle displayed on the floor representing a selection of the world's most popular monuments. A puzzle with 42,000 pieces! It was made by the cousin of Caroline Bellés, the owner, and it took her a year and a half to complete it. Entering this shop on Diputació street next to Enric Granados is like entering a museum, you see a selection of the world's best art, landscapes from all over, fantastic scenes and animals, many animals. All in puzzle format, you can choose from about six thousand possibilities, a truly spectacular selection. And all the puzzles are displayed, as if they were paintings, which is greatly appreciated, since in most department stores and toy shops, they are on their side and you have to take them off the shelf to see if you like them or not. It is the advantage of the large space of the premises and a specialization that has lasted for three decades.

From the bed to the blanket, in addition to being a home textile shop since 1952, it is a nerve center of Gràcia. A kind of information center and tourist guide. People come in to ask where the market, the post office or the frankfurt is, as well as to buy a new set of sheets, towels, cushion covers or kitchen cloths. Oh! And to ask how on earth we are supposed to put on the duvet cover properly. It takes three degrees and two master's degrees to achieve this. Before there were ties and buttons, but people didn't like it, they prefer to complicate their lives by matching the end of the duvet with that of the cover.

An uncontrolled cry. This is how Jorge Aragone remembers the day he discovered Casa Batlló. The same reaction at the MNAC when faced with Duchamp's The Great Glass. One gets goosebumps listening to the emotion that emanates from the memories and erudition of who is undoubtedly one of the greatest stained-glass artists we can find in Barcelona today. He has had his workshop for ten years on Carrer del Peu de la Creu. He offers his services for restoration and also for the creation of new work. It's easy to fall head over heels for one of the stained-glass windows hanging on the walls. Perhaps for a Corto Maltés, perhaps your favorite comic book character. Whenever he makes it, he sells it. And there have been quite a few.

It is fascinating whenever you realize that the history of a shop can serve to explain the history of a country. Today, in 2026, selling suitcases and travel bags is a prosperous business. In an era of taking planes and high-speed trains like one takes the subway, being well-equipped is as fundamental as breathing. Now, leisure and business travel is perfectly incorporated into the daily lives of the middle class – or what’s left of it – and the well-off. But what was happening sixty years ago? And seventy? And a hundred? Well, what was happening was that people, the average citizen, did not travel for pleasure. Or, if they did, it was very exceptionally.

“Salvador Espriu Castelló, writer, single, sixty years old, a native of Santa Coloma de Farners [...]. He declares that he in no way wishes to be buried in the cemetery of Arenys de Mar. He further declares his express wish that his body be cremated, if the laws permit”. These are verbatim words, handwritten by Salvador Espriu in what is a document of last wishes, a draft of a will, written at some point between the summer of 1973 and that of 1974 – he was born on July 10, 1913 –, drafted in Spanish – the law did not provide for any other option – and addressed to his great friend and lawyer Josep Ferrer i Rius.

From Guitarland you can easily leave convinced that your life needs a guitar to acquire the full dimension of its meaning. Richard and José Luis have been running this shop on Carrer del Diluvi in Barcelona since 2003, right in the heart of Gràcia, a neighborhood that has been becoming orphaned of this type of establishment –contrary to its personality, with deep-rooted festivals and a tradition for musical taste– for a type of resident who is a very interesting potential customer for the services a music store can offer.

Fifty or a hundred years from now, if a costume designer or wardrobe supervisor for a film needs to dress actors as people did in 2026, they will most likely have a serious problem. Bea Castelló is very clear about this: “Nowadays, nobody keeps clothes. Almost everything is of poor quality and disposable. It’s rare for someone to wear clothes they wore two seasons ago.” This wasn't the case before. She knows what she's talking about. Her business, Las Pepitas, which she inherited from her mother, has been serving the fascinating field of clothing for many years. Both for wearing and for the home.

This coming August 12th there will be a total solar eclipse that can be seen very close to us. It will be visible along a wide transversal strip that will cross the peninsula from Galicia to the Balearic Islands, including an important territory of Lleida and Terres de l’Ebre. Sold-out locations and astronomical prices in hotels. Maria Àngels Gil, from Còsmik, the shop on Viladomat street specializing in astronomy, explains it to us. They have been selling protective glasses for months and the closer the day gets, the more certain it is that sales will not decrease. It is a happy coincidence, that of the eclipse. And next year and the year after there will also be solar eclipses visible to us. Lucky! Exclaims Maria Àngels, who together with her husband, Xavier Górriz, have already spent many years immersed in a business that seems extremely specialized, but which is aimed at a wider range of the public than one might imagine. Is astronomy popular? Of course it is!

Can you imagine that today, in 2026, at a newsstand or a Good Coffee shop, amidst the array of magazines, collectibles, tourist guides, city maps, trading cards, and toys—newspapers still clinging to a corner—you could buy a board game to beat in a row, a game designed to stimulate the user, instead of encouraging them to wander through the Raval district to solicit sex, dodge pimps' knives, and pay to avoid contracting syphilis? Can you imagine that today, in 2026, you could find an erotic guide to Barcelona there, showing you the best areas and establishments to find prostitutes? Well, that, which seems like science fiction, was a feasible reality in Barcelona in the late seventies and early eighties.

You might walk into Ràdio Fabregat (Rosselló, 292) to buy a couple of light bulbs and leave with a valuable history lesson. But not the history found in books, no, the history contained within objects, everyday life embodied in household items that hold memories. Of course, there must be someone capable of interpreting and transmitting it. This someone is Antoni Fonoll, and he has been the heart and soul of the business since 1992, when the founder, Joan Fabregat, retired and he took it over to maintain its essence intact to this day. The shop is overflowing with merchandise.

It's truly difficult to walk past Aribau 84 and not stop, mesmerized, gazing at Fabre's window display. And it's common to hear similar comments: "What a beautiful shop," "Such lovely toys," "Such good taste and such a warm atmosphere." Fabre is a little paradise for those looking for the perfect gift for a child. A perfect gift, and something different. They specialize in children's and young adult literature, wooden and eco-friendly toys, board games, learning aids, and other items related to leisure, recreation, and the all-important concept of learning through play. We spoke with Eugenia Pujol, the current owner, who has been involved with the business since 2011, when they were still located on Rambla Catalunya. Since 2015, they've been in this new, high-traffic location in the heart of the Eixample district, offering an oasis of calm. An oasis brimming with stimuli, of course, with a space that makes the most of its space, where it's hard to find anything that might annoy you. That's what the employees do. They know how to listen and advise. This is very important, Eugenia emphasizes. Keep in mind that being a shopkeeper in a toy store isn't easy, since almost everyone who comes in wants something for themselves, but rather as a gift. And you have to be very precise, patient, know how to explain and listen, and find the perfect piece. That puzzle that's sure to be a hit. The letter game for someone learning to write. The book for someone with learning difficulties. The paper cutout for someone who needs to improve their technique. That dinosaur world map that's sure to be a success. Or the magnifying glass with a built-in light that even the child's father will use.

Singuerlín, so many years passing by the corset shop at 130 Aribau Street, and so many years the name ringing in my ears like a bell. Could it have something to do with the Santa Coloma de Gramenet neighborhood? It was obvious that it did, that it had to be related. And yes, of course, Pepita Simó y Singuerlín, 84 years old, clears up any doubts. She's worked behind the same counter since she was 13 and retains enviable energy and eloquence. Undoubtedly renewed, because for some years now she's been working side by side with her cleaners, Marta and María, and she's pleased that they've become so involved in the family business. Marta will be the one to carry on when Pepita decides to retire. But I'd say she still has plenty of life left in her.

Can a locksmith also be a blacksmith? What's the difference between a locksmith and a locksmith? Consulting dictionary definitions, there seems to be a consensus that a locksmith encompasses the practices of both locksmithing and blacksmithing. Locksmith: "Craftsman or technician specializing in making, repairing, installing, and adjusting locks, keys, bolts, and various metal objects, especially for buildings and furniture." Some definitions use "locksmith" as a synonym. Others, however, maintain that a locksmith is strictly an expert in door locks. Well, be that as it may, at number 2 Gleva Street, we find La Gleva Locksmith, which has been Javier Redonnet's daily home for twelve years. It all started the day he passed by and saw that the previous locksmith was about to retire and agreed to take over the business. Javier has known the trade since he was very young. At 17, he took a welding course and developed a taste for the profession. He worked for others for several years until he found this little corner in the fantastic Farró neighborhood and set up his own business.

Marc Martínez has just turned sixty and is premiering a new film. Balandrauabout the tragic events of December 2000 in the Pyrenees. He plays Siscu, the volunteer firefighter from Camprodon who led the rescue efforts. He looks back on his career, his beginnings, his profession, the thrill of acting, theater as an essential school, and his memories of Land and freedom and Waiting for Godot...the precariousness... and the legacy in his son León, also an actor.