Laroyans who need to fill their pantry with basic products or who suddenly lack an essential ingredient to complete the recipe of the day, such as oil, eggs or milk, will no longer have to take the car and go to a nearby town to buy them, but only have to go to the central Calle Real in their town and buy them at ‘La tienda de Laroya’, the first one the municipality has had in many years and which has opened its doors thanks to the collaboration of the Provincial Council, City Council and Junta de Andalucía.
This morning the President of the Provincial Council of Almería, Javier A. García, and the Mayor of Laroya, Loli Moreno, accompanied by other authorities of the municipal and provincial corporation, such as the Vice President Fernando Giménez, the deputies Esther Álvarez and Matilde Díaz; the delegate of Justice, Local Administration and Civil Service in Almería, Rebeca Gómez, or Margarita Pérez, who runs this new commercial establishment, have inaugurated the store in a symbolic act that has been attended by numerous neighbors who did not want to miss this launch.
The President of the Provincial Council has highlighted the importance of this day because “thanks to this shop, residents have this essential service for their comfort and well-being. ‘La tienda de Laroya’ covers this basic need in this public space that sees the light thanks to the collaboration between the Provincial Council, the Regional Government and the City Council”, and he has thanked the work and drive of the Mayor of Laroya for making this project a reality.
“The smallest municipality in the province, Benitagla, has a bar and a shop, and the third smallest municipality in the province, Laroya, has a bar and a shop, both services have been thanks to institutional collaboration, thanks to the Provincial Government that fights to give life and opportunities to the towns in the interior. This is not the emptied Spain, it is the Spain full of opportunities. That is why I invite everyone to come to Laroya, to enjoy its rural tourism, its people, its bar…, and also to buy in its shop,” said García.
García also recalled that “the shop has brought us a new neighbour, an entrepreneur from Alicante, Margarita Pérez, who has already registered and has decided to start her life and business project in Laroya. That is why she becomes a valuable example of the main objective that we carry out from the Provincial Council to successfully face the demographic challenge. Creating opportunities so that a person like Margarita, if she wishes, can live in Laroya because she has everything necessary to be able to do so.”
For her part, the mayor thanked the support of the Provincial Council of Almería and the Regional Government of Andalusia for making this project a reality. “This achievement is a clear example of what we can do when administrations work together. Today we have a store that will not only make our daily lives easier, but will also contribute significantly to the repopulation and revitalization of our town. In a world where we often feel forgotten, it is comforting to see how joint efforts can bring such positive results. This store is more than a place to shop, it is a symbol of hope and progress for all of us.”
The Delegate for Justice, Local Administration and Public Service, Rebeca Gómez, has indicated that “the strategic lines of the Junta have marked the demographic challenge as a priority since the government of Juanma Moreno and the economic and technical collaboration with the City Councils as a basic instrument to face the demographic and economic challenges of our municipalities for the maintenance of the infrastructures that provide essential services. Today we inaugurate this work developed largely through the PFEA, whose transformative power has been seen in the cases of population growth in various regions in the last ten years, in which, in addition to managing to fix the population to the territory, we have seen that it has been a key factor for the maintenance of the heritage of our inland municipalities”, concluded the delegate.
The terrace of the Alameda Bar
Following the opening of the store, residents and authorities have travelled to the Bar Alameda, the only one in the municipality, opened in March 2023, and currently run by Manuela Parra, to visit the metal platform that has been installed thanks to financial assistance from the Provincial Council, allowing the premises to have a large terrace, leaving the public road free for the passage of people and vehicles.
In this regard, the president has highlighted that “a bar that is also a reality thanks to institutional collaboration and that, from the Provincial Council, we have addressed in a transversal way with the involvement of various areas: Presidency, PFEA and Entrepreneurship. Another service provided by this bar that, together with the ATM of the Plan Against Financial Exclusion of the Provincial Council, which had the opportunity to be the first municipality with this multi-service ATM, makes you an example to follow throughout Spain in the fight against depopulation”.
The investment by the Provincial Council of Almería in these public spaces of the council to equip them with a shop and a bar, which becomes one of the main promises made by the president in his investiture speech a year ago, so that all municipalities have at least one bar and a shop as a basic containment dam in the fight against depopulation, is close to 100,000 euros between the Presidency and the PFEA budgets.
The Department of the Presidency, Demographic Challenge, Historical Heritage and Tourism has granted 32,000 euros in aid for the equipment of the store, with all the necessary furniture, and the installation of the new terrace/platform of the Alameda Bar, which was conditioned and restored at the time through PFEA funds, as well as the store, which in its renovation has had an investment of more than 63,000 euros.