Renovated market in São João Madeira is beautiful but has ″little space″

Sellers in São João da Madeira worried about the workplace, but vice president says they were warned in good time.

“It’s beautiful, but we lack space”, says Maria Dias, one of the vegetable sellers who, yesterday, occupied the renovated lower floor of the São João da Madeira Municipal Market. The global intervention will be completed in September.

After almost two years of work on the building, the lower floor of the market has a renewed look, ensuring better conditions for sellers and customers. There is a general opinion that the space “is more attractive”, but there are complaints about the spaces destined for each seller, considered to be small.

Selling for about 40 years, Maria Dias says that, now, “there are better conditions and hygiene”. However, “the space for selling the products is very small”.
Opinion shared by Maria Silva, another vegetable seller: “It’s very beautiful, but we don’t have space to work”. “We don’t even have space to put a scale. I don’t know how we’re going to be able to sell it,” she complained.

The clientele is mostly pleased, but leaves the vendors to repair. For Lurdes Costa, “it remains a dark place. It needed lighter colors, more light”.

The vice-president of the Chamber says he “understands” the complaints, but recalls that “operators were told from the beginning that the traditional market, which was divided into two floors, would be concentrated in one, with reduced spaces”, explained José Nuno Vieira.

The mayor says that the objective is “to provide the market with conditions more suited to current times. Clearly, we are on the right path and to achieve this same objective”.