The doors of waste in the great commercial hubs of Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia: 71% of the stores have an open entrance | economy
The energy saving decree validated last Thursday in Congress contemplates the obligation that stores at street level “have a proper door closing system”, which can be automatic, to avoid wasting air conditioning in summer or heating in winter. The initial text set September 30 as the limit for installing these systems. It remains to be seen if the date undergoes any variation during the processing. In any case, a tour this week of three of the main shopping streets in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, all three pedestrian streets, shows that 71% of the 109 stores observed have their doors open.
The commercial artery where the most waste occurs is Don Juan de Austria street in Valencia, where 84% of the shops have an open entrance. In Madrid, 74% of the shops on Calle de Preciados have their doors open. In Barcelona, in the Portal de l’Àngel, the percentage of non-compliance is lower, but also majority: 58%.
In the three cities, the predominant doors are sliding doors (43%), but only a third of the stores activate them, the rest block them so that they remain open. In this case, to comply with the decree, it will be enough to activate them or repair those that, according to the shop assistants, are damaged. 28% of stores have hinged doors, and probably all of them (98%) are wide open. And there is 29% of businesses that do not even have a door, only a shutter.
The reasons why merchants keep the doors of the establishments open are several. But they most likely indicate that closing them means losing customers, because fewer people enter. Some point out that they left them open during the de-escalation of the pandemic and the public has gotten used to it: they trust that they are so that the premises can be ventilated. Traders’ associations ask for help to install the new doors and more time to do the works or a moratorium on sanctions. The text of the royal decree refers to two other laws to specify them: the Regulation of Thermal Installations in Buildings (RITE) and Law 21/1992 of Industry, which contemplates fines between 1,000 euros and up to 60,000.
Installation aids
The cost of installing automatic doors ranges between 2,500 and 4,000 euros, according to several companies in the sector consulted. It depends on the size of the access to each establishment. In Barcelona, the City Council has opened a line of subsidies for merchants who need to install them. They will pay up to 2,000 euros, but merchants warn that, beyond the city center, medium-sized or family businesses will not be able to afford the expense when they have not yet recovered from the collapse in sales caused by the pandemic.
Rafael Torres, president of the Valencian Confecomerç and the Spanish Confederation of Commerce, recalls that commerce already had to adapt to the pandemic in that the doors of its establishments remained open. Torres estimates “that in Spain between 100,000 and 150,000 businesses may need this installation, which is why he sees the deadline given until September 30 for the execution of these investments in the face of such demand as insufficient.” The merchants of the Valencian Community are awaiting how the aid announced by the Generalitat in response to the request of the employers will materialize. “We will try to extend deadlines, as we have been asking from the beginning, since it would be logical after it is processed as a bill,” says Torres.
The big chains do
Most large establishments such as El Corte Inglés, Fnac, Mango or the Inditex group stores (Zara, Bershka, Massimo Dutti) have had sliding doors for a long time, although according to some managers until the entry into force of the royal decree they have not activated. The use of automatic sliding has spread in the last decade, especially to facilitate access for people with disabilities and to give a modern look, according to Rafael Fernández, director of Domya, one of the largest in the sector. Bars and restaurants have been its main customers, because it makes life easier for the waiters who carried trays from the interior to the terrace. Fernández assures that installing automatic doors, sliding or swinging, is a sensible investment that benefits in the long term. “In four or six years it is possible to recover the money invested,” he says.
open sliding doors
Some continued this week without activating the automatic opening mechanism. Elena Enrique, in charge of Calzedonia on Calle de Preciados, fears that entering her business is a high-risk sport: “It will be a problem because we have had clients who have hit themselves in the face because they had not distinguished the transparent door” . At Portal de l’Àngel, another manager of a large chain explains that closing the door has an immediate effect on the entry of customers: “It shows a lot and has an impact on the data that we have to provide to the company on a daily basis, we don’t should activate it”. Other businesses ensure that the automatic door remains open because it is broken: “The decree has been the excuse to fix it, they come on the 5th”, says Isabel, from the Jimmy Lion store.
Hinges open wide
98% of stores that have hinged doors keep them open. The only ones that have them closed are jewelry, for security reasons. “We keep the air conditioning at the degrees recommended by the Government, but the doors are open [un modo de invitar a los compradores a entrar al local, sobre todo cuando aprieta el sol], so we are getting hot in here”, comments the employee of a well-known Valencian perfumery chain located in Don Juan de Austria. In Portal de l’Àngel Benetton has a generous access, with large glass doors open in winter and summer, acknowledge the employees. They do not know the plans of the firm.
The blind as the only closure
Large door installation companies are experiencing an unusual August, with a vague number of budget inquiries, although hiring is lower so far. The Icara Group, based in Madrid, had twice as many queries as usual in August. They are negotiating an agreement with the Madrid Hospitality Association so that members have discounts. “We have stockpiled engines because we anticipate that an impressive amount of work will come in September,” says Jacqueline Vera, the company’s announcer. Some businesses expect the reform soon. Primor in Preciados, which only has a metal closure, has commissioned an automatic sliding door, according to Rafa Pérez, the person in charge of that premises. “It’s already ordered but since it’s August and everything is going slower, it will take a while.”
In Barcelona, in the Portal de l’Àngel the saleswomen of several stores explain that their bosses have ordered sliding doors. “The other day he concluded to take measures,” he indicates from two businesses as varied as a mobile fund store or Tous jewelry. The Planelles ice cream and nougat shop also has no doors: from the street you practically go to the counter. “At the end of September we close until the nougat season that begins in November”, we have two months to think about how we do it, explains Sergi Alsina. In Valencia, small shops in Don Juan de Austria where they sell mobile phone cases, trinkets or sunglasses, all without doors, warn that the adaptation of their premises depends on the franchises they represent. “I don’t know anything yet,” another clerk responds with surprise.