Valencia's golden mile struggles to fill ground-floor units

Valencia's golden mile no longer finds retailers

In the heart of Valencia's golden mile, empty shop windows have become the dominant landscape. It's not a lack of demand, but prices: rents for ground-floor units have reached levels that only large luxury firms with hefty margins can sustain or, according to some interpretations, businesses with other sources of income. The consequence is that real estate investors have already written off the segment.

The case of the mechanic's workshop in Monteolivete sums it up: three parking spaces, rent over €1,000, unviable business. The neighbourhoods are a succession of empty ground-floor units, for rent or sale, while tourist flats occupy those that are gradually left behind.

Monaco rents with neighbourhood shops

The reasons are varied, but the combination is lethal. The internet has emptied traditional retail, large shopping centres have absorbed demand and, on top of that, rents are not falling. In provinces like Jaén there are entire passages closed for a decade; a price is being asked that no viability analysis can withstand. Retired shopkeepers in the area explain that local shops have disappeared, while owners prefer to keep the premises closed rather than accept a lower rent.

Conversion into housing, a new front

Faced with this reality, the trend is to convert ground-floor units into homes, often without the community's permission. This practice, denounced as a scam to buyers, is already generating lawsuits in the courts. Meanwhile, Madrid plays in another league: the pedestrianisation of the centre, contrary to predictions, has filled the streets with ice-cream parlours, bars and shoe shops. Local retail resists when there is tourism and purchasing power to sustain it.

The final paradox: some premises have been closed for ten years and the price remains intact. Someone should explain to the owners that the market doesn't work that way. Or perhaps, as hinted, it's not the market that rules.