Pryca nostalgia: when prices were in pesetas
Memories of Pryca, the vanished Spanish hypermarket chain, are trending again: 20-cent coins, serrano ham and the feeling that the middle class can no longer afford what it once could.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Pryca nostalgia: when prices were in pesetas
The Pryca hypermarket chain disappeared two decades ago, but memories of it resurface in every debate about the cost of living in Spain. In a recent discussion, several participants recalled the low prices, the serrano ham bought for Christmas and those 20-cent coins that seemed to last forever. What lies behind that melancholy is not just a generational whim: it is the realization that Spain's middle class has lost purchasing power.
The mirage of lost quality
The argument goes that today's shopping centres do not offer the same quality as Pryca, and that inflation has made it impossible to replicate that shopping basket. The complaint is no small matter: while the CPI soars, wages fail to keep up. The remark that "the 21st century is rubbish" sums up a feeling shared by many Spaniards who see their standard of living eroding.
The youth trap
But every kind of nostalgia has a deceptive undertone. One participant rightly points out that what people really miss is their youth, not the store. The peseta, the live turkey at the Plaza Mayor or Simago are just symbols of a time when money went further. Today, the same salary does not buy as much, and the memory of Pryca is the symptom of a middle class that feels impoverished.
The question is not whether Pryca was better, but why that economy of 20-cent coins now seems like a lost paradise. And that answer hurts.
Related threads in the forum
The Pryca hypermarket chain disappeared two decades ago, but memories of it resurface in every debate about the cost of living in Spain. In a recent discussion, several participants recalled the low prices, the serrano ham bought for Christmas and those 20-cent coins that seemed to last forever. What lies behind that melancholy is not just a generational whim: it is the realization that Spain's middle class has lost purchasing power.
The mirage of lost quality
The argument goes that today's shopping centres do not offer the same quality as Pryca, and that inflation has made it impossible to replicate that shopping basket. The complaint is no small matter: while the CPI soars, wages fail to keep up. The remark that "the 21st century is rubbish" sums up a feeling shared by many Spaniards who see their standard of living eroding.
The youth trap
But every kind of nostalgia has a deceptive undertone. One participant rightly points out that what people really miss is their youth, not the store. The peseta, the live turkey at the Plaza Mayor or Simago are just symbols of a time when money went further. Today, the same salary does not buy as much, and the memory of Pryca is the symptom of a middle class that feels impoverished.
The question is not whether Pryca was better, but why that economy of 20-cent coins now seems like a lost paradise. And that answer hurts.
Related threads in the forum
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (15 replies).
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