Plaça Catalunya now welcomes the flower vendors from La Rambla: "The change is a bit strange, but we like it"

BarcelonaIt's 10:30 in the morning, and the sidewalk along Plaça Catalunya, between Carrer de Pelai and Ronda de la Universitat, is beginning to fill with color. Yellow, red, lilac, green, orange... The chromatic ranges are grouped and mingled within vases of different sizes and shapes placed on shelves. It's the first day that the traditional flower vendors of La Rambla have set up shop a few meters further up from their original location. The street is filled with the noise of handcarts going up and down to unload flowers and sacks of seeds, and the scent of the floral arrangements permeates the air. Behind the counters, going in and out, the stallholders bustle about. It's moving day, and that's synonymous with "madness," says José González, a florist on La Rambla for 30 years: "It's all new, and I have to adapt, taking it one day at a time and without missing a beat."

González, from La Flor de la Rambla, is one of the florists from the eight flower stalls on La Rambla that have temporarily relocated to Plaça Catalunya—opposite the El Triangle shopping center and Barcelona's largest Zara store—due to the construction work underway in the central section of the boulevard. However, the change hasn't just been a change of location, but also a change in the style of the stall. The flowers are now displayed from a cubicle made of an exposed metal structure, with glass elements on the front.

The stallholders still need a few days to adjust and settle into the space in the square, where they will remain for approximately a year. "Last night, at nine o'clock, I finished bringing everything here, and now there's nothing downstairs, but I still have to finish setting everything up, and it's a bit stressful," admits González, who acknowledges that "that's what relocations are like." Nevertheless, he assures that the location "is very pleasant."

From the next stall, Carolina Pallés agrees. Along with her sister Mercè, she is the fourth generation of Flors Carolina, a century-old kiosk that the family's great-grandmother opened on La Rambla for the first Universal Exposition in Barcelona in 1888. "The change is a bit strange, but now we're putting things back in place, along with some photographs to tell our story and some for the counter." Hers is the only one that will return to its original location and with the same format, at number 93 La Rambla. In fact, it won an award for its design and heritage value. "Flors Carolina is a stall my father fought hard for, and luckily we've been told it can continue," explains the stall owner.

Success of roses, tulips, and sunflowers

Little by little, Pallés adds flowers until the stand is full. "Right now, it's mainly tulip season, and sunflowers will be coming soon, more in vogue during the summer," he explains. Even so, González points out, the star is the red rose, a classic that always sells. "The person in love who comes in always asks for a rose," the florist says, laughing. Having a stall in such a touristy spot as La Rambla, and now exceptionally in Plaça Catalunya—equally busy—he says that tourists are also important customers. "I often see people who come with their whole family and buy a rose for their children or their partner."

The first few days in the new location are no exception, with several tour groups taking guided walks through the city center stopping by out of curiosity. The unique aspect of the move is that, although the stallholders will return to La Rambla, they will do so with their new stalls. "The idea is to gradually adapt, and even if things come up, we'll sort them out," says Laura, from Flors Maria Laura, a stall that used to belong to her grandmother.