Renewal at the helm of La Boqueria, Barcelona's most emblematic market. The businessman and expert retail consultant Jorge Mas (Barcelona, 1974) has been elected new president of the Merchants Association, replacing Salvador Capdevila who, next May, will turn 80. The new board, resulting from the elections held this Thursday, will be made up of 17 people, and Alfonso Domínguez Tarancón, Francisco López Gómez de Cadiñanos, and Eduard Soley Castellví will be vice-presidents.
Jorge Mas, a regular contributor to The New Barcelona Post, was already vice-president of La Boqueria and has promoted various initiatives in recent years to revitalize and modernize the market. Born into a family of merchants, Mas has developed his entire professional career in the world of commerce and gastronomy. He was the CEO of the MasGourmets delicatessen chain and currently leads his own consultancy, CrearMas, specialized in helping companies in the commercial sector transform and launch innovative concepts that add value to the consumer. His entrepreneurial side has also led him to launch brands such as Canpork and he has also put his ideas into several books, such as Retail Power, Boqueria Gourmand and Why some stores sell and others don't.
Mas collaborates as a professor at different universities and business schools and has also developed a facet as an expert speaker in detecting trends in the commercial distribution sector. "Gastronomy, culture, experiences, and trends will be our great commitment to attract the local public, since the market must continue to be the benchmark for the city and the Ciutat Vella district. In fact, the citizenry is our essence, our engine to continue being one of the best markets in the world," Mas affirmed after the election. "We know that gastronomy and fresh produce are identifying features of our culture, of our way of being and doing things, and that is why we want to promote it thanks to an entire board team that loves the market and the city," he added.
According to La Boqueria, the winning candidacy has presented a program that bets on the "reinvention of the market to adapt to new consumption habits, with a leading market that complements in-person experiences with new technologies". Mas's team will also emphasize the improvement and modernization of infrastructures, "in a commercial mix that cohesively combines the local proposal with that of international interest, and in the market's role as the backbone of the neighborhood."
The until now president of the Association of Merchants of La Boqueria Market, Salvador Capdevila, bids farewell to his position after the celebration of the market's 180th anniversary, which coincided with the pandemic, and after having promoted the publication of a commemorative book on the history of the facility, which remains an authentic symbol of Barcelona. Capdevila, who has held the position of president for eleven years and vice-president for ten, will now become honorary president of the market and will perform institutional representation functions.