Council wants to make city a shopper´s paradise

Sebastia Sanso, the councillor in charge of finance and commerce, said that there will be more than 100 activities between Friday and January 8, in a campaign which has a budget of 275'549 euros, provided by the city council, the Chamber of Commerce and the IBI Commerce Foundation.

The campaign starts at 7pm on Friday, when the lights will be switched on from the city hall in Plaza Cort and there will be a colourful parade through the city centre.

Sansó said that the programme, now in its third year, has novelties such as a second hand toy fair which will be held in the Plaza de la Artesania on December 4, 11 and 18.

There will be parades in the Pere Garau, Bons Aires and Santa Catalina districts on December 18, 23 and 24, and there will be street theatre and other entertainment in the Plaza Olivar, Calle Olmos, Plaza España, Plaza Santa Eulalia, Jaime III, Plaza Alexandre Jaume, Via Roma, Plaza Marques del Palmer and Plaza de la Artesania.

Sanso also said that there will be merry go rounds and other attractions for children, workshops on subjects such as make up, origami and making mobiles, as well as games, story telling, folk dancing and puppets.

Joan Gual, the deputy chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday that the campaign was designed to encourage people to go shopping in the city centre. According to figures provided by the IBI Commerce Foundation, last year some 15'000 people went shopping in Jaime III, Sindicato and San Miguel on the Friday and Saturday afternoons of the first week of the campaign.

Numbers on these days rose to 35'000 people in the second week and 60'000 in the fourth week, which was triple the usual number of people.
The maximum figure for a single day was 100'000, however Bartomeu Servera, the chairman of Pimeco (the association for small and medium sized enterprises), said he was confident that this figure would be beaten this year.