Here is a list of shops, at least, traditional
Centennial shops, curious places and unique shops they are distributed throughout Madrid offering a map so varied that it is impossible to know them all. Undoubtedly, the commercial proposal is unfathomable in the capital, but here a few shops that, with more or less history They can boast of being unique in their kind.
THE TEMPLE OF THE DOCKS (Round of Atocha, 16)
At Muelles Ros only springs are sold. Specifically 6,385 references are stored in boxes that climb from the floor to the ceiling of this store located in Embajadores. Unique in the world, this peculiar family place has nothing less than a century running.
It all started with Luis Boixadera Ros in 1894 “he opened a spring factory in Barcelona and at the beginning of the century he decided to open the store in Madrid”, he says. Carlos Rodriguez , who has spent 17 years behind the counter helping the current regent, Jorgen Ros , granddaughter of the founder.
For him food processor, pianos, stairs, clocks and , of course, bed bases , the offer is so wide that it is difficult to list all the products that need springs.
But at Muelles Ros they have everything under control and "We are removing and putting models according to the needs of the public" says the manager. “People of all ages pass through here; since the young people looking to fix the motorcycle saddle to lifelong customers who need to fix the handle of a classic knob”.
There is nothing to resist them "If we don't have it, we make it" , he adds. His expert hand made the first mattress of the Flex brand was made with his springs or that for mount the lawn of the Santiago Bernabéu request custom creations. Series like La Casa de Papel or Sky Rojo They have also asked for springs.
In fact, a spring almost half a meter high and a thickness similar to a human body greets everyone who walks through the door. “They asked us to make these springs to the trucks that worked on the M-30” Rodriguez recalls.
“It is broken but we have left it as a souvenir in the store.” A store that has resisted everything and that, according to the employee, "has picked up again with the crisis, because it is giving us again to repair and not so much use and throw away”.
Interior of the Ortega Cereria
MORE THAN A CENTURY CREATING CANDLES (Toledo, 43)
Next to the Church of San Isidro can be read on a sign Cerería Ortega. Manufacturers of candles since 1893. And he doesn't lie. Jose Manuel Ortega Fernandez is the fourth generation of the family who has consecrated his life to wax.
“The store already existed and in 1893 it became my grandfather's , who was already working here”, recalls the now master creator. “Before, all the churches had a chandlery next to them; now we are the only ones left”, he adds. a small exhibitor It serves to serve customers and behind it you can enjoy the true magic of the chandlery: the workshop where Ortega works daily “In the same way that my grandfather did, with knockout candles”.
By immersion in wax baths the product “ it gets fatter until it reaches the desired diameter and it is left hanging hanging”, says the owner. Fattening "layer by layer" his creations can reach thicknesses of 10 cm and height of 80 cm.
"I have been here From the age of 13 , although I was thirty without dedicating myself to the business. I opted for electronics but the crisis brought me back”, says Ortega, who, like his predecessors, does custom work at the same time that he creates dozens of different styles for direct sale.
"I have everything, from the votive offerings that my grandfather used to make," he recounts, to candles, scented candles, curly -which he is doing by hand with pliers-, bells, floats, birthday and even esoteric. His works have been seen in cinematography or theater, such as Red Eagle.
“All period series need candles” he jokes. "Now churches don't use candles anymore, our main market revolves around homes."
HISTORICAL ACCESSORIES
In the central Imperial Street, an emblematic business awaits, which since 1832 has been entirely dedicated to covering heads. In Medrano Hat Shop (Imperial, 12) they like to brag about being the oldest hat shop in the country. Also that there is no model that can resist the Medrano family, running the business since the 1970s.
“Many families have passed through here,” he says. Hector Medrano , the last to join a business where there is no lack the classic Panama, the chulapa beret, the top hats or the pamelas in perfect combination with current creations.
"The key is to be in constant change, to know what is most requested, from the changes in fashion," says Héctor, who works in the workshop together with his father. manufacturing parts for direct sale to the public as well as assignments for film and theater productions. The last? The Serie Temperance.
Gloves Luque is located on Espoz y Mina street
The hat marked and continues to mark fashions; but also a good glove is still an object of desire among many. You don't have to go far from Medrano hat shop to meet another emblem of the city: Luque gloves (Espoz and Mina, 3). Open in 1886 at Puerta del Sol there was a glove shop and factory with the name of Federico Gely.
A few years later, the business passed to Juan Antonio Luque, who moved the store to Espoz y Mina street and he registers the trademark in 1927. The sewing machines continue to decorate the showcase of this artisan trade that continues standing three generations later.
His logo, two dogs fighting over a glove, has been on catwalks - his were the models they wore in the galas of Miss Spain-, film and television and, of course, for the ateliers of great fashion designers , who do not hesitate to approach Gloves Luque to complete their models.
The best horchata in Madrid? The one from Oroxata
ONE HORCHATA, PLEASE (Pedro Tezano, 11)
It is seven in the evening and in just five minutes there is a queue at the horchatería factory located in Tetuán, Oroxata.
A grandfather who asks 5 liters to take your grandchildren , a middle-aged woman who chooses a glass to take away and enjoy on the way as valencian drink or a young couple that is the first time they come and look for try the tiger nut juice at one of the available tables in a simple place, without artifice, where they only stand out black and white photographs of the family past of the business and some machines with more than half a century of life.
It was his great-grandfather who moved to Madrid with so precious product of its Valencia local to open “the first factory and store of horchata in Madrid recalls Sergio Ferrer, heir to the business. was the year 1946 “and they left the horchatería where they worked, The Regional, which no longer exists”, bill.
Along with the factory came a kiosk in Cuatro Caminos for direct tasting and a stall at the door of a space dedicated to the daily creation of 300 liters per day of a product that only carries tiger nut, sugar and water.
Today the factory is hidden at the end of the premises to give way to a store where acquire (and take if desired) a product "handmade throughout the process, fresh and with machines from half a century ago”, Ferrer recounts with amusement, who, after ten years outside of Spain met a father looking to retire.
Terrace of La Franchuteria
For two years he has been in charge, offering the star product together with his new creations such as Horchata custard with Philadelphia or mousses with their own lemon and grated tiger nut.
PARIS IN MADRID (Beautiful Valley, 52)
Opened last 2020, the pandemic did not prevent two friends from France, Laura James and Alejandro Monteiro, make their dream come true: a shop-bar with a Parisian air consecrated to cheese and wine. Baptized as La Franchutería, "we had a job that didn't make much sense and we decided to embark on this adventure inspired by a wine-bar", says Laura behind the glass where near twenty varieties of cheese They invite you to salivate.
Sheep, goat or cow , "We created the business looking for something where France and Spain shared space", adds she was born in the French Alps. Starting from a wine catalog that runs the DO. from France and Spain , "we added products that invited to be shared with a bottle".
Thus, together with about forty labels in which there is no lack Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rioja or Rías Baixas , the team works to select cured meats from Spain, pâtés from France and , of course, cheeses (these “half of each country”) all chosen under the same premise: “names that are not in supermarkets that come from small producers, mainly family businesses, and offer quality products, respectful with the environment and created by hand.
Aware of offering a quality product, its trips, fairs and “word of mouth of friends” , Laura and Alejandro are clear that their business is a place to "find the best of each country that is unknown at the same time," he says. Either its brie cheese or for the oscense cachirulo -goat cheese covered with ashes- lovers of bold, natural and unconventional flavors They have a new temple to shop at. In fact, there is nothing better than being advised by them.
THE TOMATO TEMPLE (Cea Bermúdez, 21)
Without leaving Chamberí, the next stop awaits in a small shop window that captivates the gaze of everyone who passes by. It is not surprising, just tomatoes they look imposing before the gaze of some passers-by who have become accustomed to this specialized grocery store released just three months ago and has fresh material, at its right point of maturation , and very beautiful throughout the year.
Because here there are tomatoes for all tastes and not only in summer season. It was precisely from his experience distributing Navarrese products to the hotel industry when Igor Lawrence realized how difficult it was to find quality tomatoes in winter that “were cultivated as of old”, bill.
Let yourself be advised: each type is used for something different
Seeing such a lack, “I first thought of set up a tomato ripening center. But when I started to investigate, I saw all the varieties that there are in Spain and when searching the internet for tomato shops in the world and seeing that none appeared, I decided I had to set up a store.”
El Colmado del Tomato was born last 2018 in Malasaña, in a plumbing shop, but a year and a half later it is in Chamberí where you can find this Navarro aware of the importance of selling quality and seasonal product.
“There are many varieties on the market, like seventy , but here what we are looking for is that they are perfect in acidity, skin... and we have opted for some 15 types” he says. Depending on the season, some specimens or others will be found, but all of them always from domestic farmers that "they only work with tomato, that they treat it with care".
Among his offer there is no lack of classic tomatoes for salad, cherrys, raf or Rosa de Barbastro , but it is also possible to find exotic species such as Cherokee tomato or Japanese seed , one of the latest news from him. Constant seeker of "new nuances that are coming out in Spain" his tomatoes do not disappoint. Because they taste like that, tomato.
FRENCH FRIES OF A LIFETIME (Virgen de la Monjía 2)
In the La Concepcion neighborhood talking about La Azucena is synonymous with traveling to the past and discovering a shop window where french fries are still bought by weight after having come out of a fryer still in operation.
"We are one of the few that still have a fryer in the store," he says. daughter lydia , which continues to work with the traditional formula started in 1943 by her grandfather, Melchor de la Hija.
Betting only on the best raw materials, without adding preservatives or dyes, masterfully fried old-fashioned and only seasoned with a little of salt, what started as a small neighborhood store has evolved and today they mainly create their potatoes in the family factory, located in Torrejón de Ardoz, from where they distribute to specialized stores and hotels that seek to offer a product without preservatives “which lasts about three or four days maximum”.
"I've been here my whole life, helping my grandfather and my father since I was little" Lidia remembers from behind a counter where she seems not to pass the time. Behind their backs the fryer still looks awesome who continue to operate on weekends to sell on a small scale from the store.
“It was there before the frying pan and the coal with which the potatoes were made. Today we have modernized the machines but we continue to maintain the traditional way of making them”. Skinned by hand, looking for a quality product and taking care of dealing with the client, Lidia is happy with the evolution of the business.
In fact, she points out that “this year is picking up” because of the pandemic “We were the ones who were here and people value that. In general, local trade has risen”.