The Rosa Escarp butcher shop, on Agustins street in Cappont, Lleida, will close its doors on June 7th after 63 years of activity. The closure is due to the retirement of its owner, Rosa Escarp, and the lack of generational succession to keep the business open.
The end of the shop coincides with a change in the neighborhood and in consumer habits that its owner has witnessed from behind the counter for decades. Rosa Escarp explains that in the seventies and eighties there was a lot of work and that now fewer young people cook, a transformation that has emptied the model of family business that marked the daily life of Cappont.
Rosa Escarp has spent 47 years behind the counter in Cappont
The establishment opened in 1963 with Toni Pintor as owner and passed into the hands of the Escarp family in 1965. Rosa Escarp has worked there for 47 years, after arriving in Lleida from Alcarràs at the age of five.
Although she had administrative training and received other job offers, she ended up staying in the family business. The owner recalls that she started helping out during a period of great activity and that she later decided to continue because she also liked the trade.
"In the 70s and 80s there was a lot of work and I stayed to help them out. Then I discovered that I also liked it" - Rosa Escarp, owner of the Rosa Escarp butcher shop
Her memory of the neighborhood begins in a very different era from the present. "When we started, many streets were not even paved and there were hardly any traffic lights," she explains about the early years of the business in Cappont.
She also links that period to a closer neighborhood life. "It was a very familiar neighborhood, full of young couples and small children. We all knew each other," she says.
The clientele changed at the same time as Cappont and daily cooking changed
Rosa Escarp maintains that one of the biggest differences compared to previous decades lies in the relationship with food and local commerce. In her experience, people used to cook more at home, which gave a different continuity to businesses like hers.
"Before, people cooked a lot more. Now everything is faster and many young people don't cook like they used to," she summarizes. Despite that change, she assures that the bond with the clientele has remained the most valuable part of the daily work.
"A very special relationship of trust is created, and that is what I will miss the most" - Rosa Escarp, owner of the Rosa Escarp butcher shop
That relationship has also been built on the product and daily interaction. Rosa Escarp points out that the moments of greatest satisfaction came when someone returned to say they liked what they had bought.
"When someone comes back and tells you they loved the product, you feel proud," says the butcher. On June 7, she will close the shop her family has been linked to since 1965, with a final message to her clientele: "I have tried to treat everyone well and I hope people will keep a good memory."