Last summer, Antonio Ramírez was looking for premises in Madrid to open a new La Central bookstore – which would join the one in Callao and the one in the Reina Sofía Museum – but without intending to, he ended up finding it in Barcelona. “I looked at this premises at Consell de Cent 314 out of pure curiosity and I loved it,” he admits. Ramírez visited it in July, in the middle of the heat wave, and found the owner willing to rent it to him. “I didn’t want to end up with another 24-hour supermarket being installed,” he says, referring to the establishment that is right in front of the future La Central, which is scheduled to open its doors between May and June. “Even though we couldn’t pay the price that is being asked for a shop or restaurant next to Passeig de Gràcia, the owner preferred a book.”