Your Grandfather started the business in 1894, then your Dad took over and kept the business strong. You’ve been told since you
were a toddler you would be the next in line to carry on. You spent all your Saturdays there, all your vacations there, you’ve been
groomed to take over your whole life, so family, friends, indeed the whole city assumes you will take over.
♫ Spring boy, spring boy,
♪ Whatcha gonna do,
♪ Whatcha gonna do,
♫ When they come for you?
Say no, I want to be an astronaut, or a monk, or an artist? Nope, your life, your future, your world is... springs.
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Muelles Ros – selling exclusively springs – has been run by the same family for three generations, since 1894. Every spring has a reference number going into the thousands, and the owner knows each one and where it is in the shop. I asked, and so he explained and showed me that there are various types of springs: tension, torsion and compression, just to name a few. The place is jaw-dropping. I’d never contemplated the detail in the design of springs, or how big, thick, delicate or complex they come.
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It’s probable, however, that this is the last generation to keep the shop running. Highly educated heirs inherit their forefathers’ hardware stores but prefer instead to do office-based or creative jobs, meaning the business will likely be sold on.
That said, for those businesses that don’t die with their owner, shops such as “Chinos”, supermarkets and megastores in the outskirts are steadily replacing these specialist shops, triggering a decline in city-centre hardware stores, and even worse: forfeiting specialist knowledge.
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Let’s not underestimate the importance of local businesses. They provide human contact, something we’re gradually learning to see as an inconvenience. They’re also part of the world we love in theory: they offer a convenience we didn’t realise we still had. Above all, local businesses are the fabric of a city, and supporting them will help keep Madrid Madrid.
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It also keeps Springfield Springfield, Greenville Greenville, and Paducah Paducah.
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