Little shop in Spain

Hello to you all,

Firstly, I would like to give a big THANK YOU to all those followers who have helped by kindly checking their blog rolls over the last two days to see if my blog icon had reappeared on their lists. It seems the problem has now been sorted but for the life of me I cannot tell you how. I'm wondering now if the glitch was caused by BLOGGER itself.



The last few days have been quite tiresome starting with that stupid glitch and then Sunday afternoon  when someone broke into our car and stole a make-up bag from the glove compartment. I don't use it for make-up but to hold the detachable front panel of the car digital radio and mp3 player! What a pain! Its of no use to the thief at all as the rest of the radio/player is fitted in the car but it is to me! I now have to see if I can buy another panel or have to buy the whole player again. Unfortunately too..... surprise surprise..... our insurance does not cover theft of personal possessions within the car only of the car itself tch!!!  We were beginning to count our blessings this morning that we leave nothing of real value in the car and that the car itself wasn't stolen either when Sr P discovered that his RayBan sunglasses are gone too!

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In an effort to change my tune and to a more agreeable one at that I thought you would enjoy this post I had previously prepared for publishing.

I'm very much in favour of giving my custom to the small shopkeepers; what with the recession and the large stores engulfing them they are having a rough time. Nonetheless I have to be honest and say I also get a lot back from being a regular at some of the small shops in this area.

It occurred to me that I could present Marie Carmen the person responsible for most of my crafting supplies to you . She has allowed me to interview her and take photographs of her little shop; a very amusing experience for both of us  :-)

Marie Carmen has a small shop in a very busy street in the Florida Plaza de la Viña neighbourhood  within Alicante City. Its situated about 10 minutes walk away from my flat so its quite near ,although I hesitate to say if this is practical or not. It is practical distance wise but not economically wise for me, as I walk past it much too frequently and am too often tempted to go in.
Its certainly a very well known shop in the neighborhood and you must know if you wish to buy in Mari's shop you have to be prepared to wait as she is always busy. She's busy because she has a lot of customers and not because she is slow!
I think Mari is a multi-tasking perfection I've never seen anyone move so fast and able to see to several customers at once and chat at the same time. I'm inclined to think she is popular as well as busy because her little shop offers more than just products for sale.
Merceria y Corseteria (haberdashery and Lingerie shop) Mabe (named after her daughter) has been open for 20 years.  I have known her personally for about 12 years now.
Her motto is she has everything in the haberdashry line but if she hasn't got it she'll get it.

Merceria & Corseteria Mabe  Calle Astronomo Comas Sola Nº 20 Alicante Spain

Monday afternoons are craft circle afternoons and from 5:30 to 8:00pm crafters come along to show off their makes,to learn from others and to get craft tips and advice. They sit,chat and knit,crochet sew and mingle.
Shopping and being a regular at Marie's shop means joining in the conversation,sharing your knowledge,popping around behind the counter yourself to pick up the wool you want or reaching up and getting the box with your size or grabbing something from a hanger and trying it on in the dressing room with a "just trying this on a minute" shout as you go around the back.

Unfortunately this relaxed somewhat bygone trust filled shop keeper & customer relationship was marred a couple of years ago as Mari had to have an automatic door opener bell fitted to get in and out of her little shop. She makes it sound comical when she relates why she had to have the door bell fitted. Those many incidents of how people tried to steal lingerie and nightwear by placing the item between their knees under a dress or skirt and trying to waddle out of the shop and Mari having to tackle the person to get the garment back. As she laughs and describes those situations one can denote in her tone an apology which I surmises is for having to have the door bell and an underlying tone of regret mixed with annoyance.

Its not a tidy shop. It isn't very big either some would say pokey although there is plenty of light and colour there. In fact the shop has an abundance of colour! Its a shop filled with......... things from floor to ceiling and one should never turn away to leave thinking that as you can't see the item you are after that she does not have it!  Its imperative you ask and ten times out of ten she does have it...tucked away!

Amanda :-)