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alo Alto Market has become Barcelona's talent factory in its four years of existence. The coolest street market –flea market, for the classics– in the capital is the best platform for young (and not so young) entrepreneurs to project their brands and sell their creations. It opens the first weekend of each month in the old Poblenou factory, on Pellaires street, where it offers ephemeral art or design installations, fashion sales, truck food for all tastes, and live music for all moods.
The old factory complex on Pellaires street in Poblenou houses this peculiar weekend offering, which attracts more than ten thousand people, mostly young, in each edition. All the fashionable Anglicisms perfectly describe the concept of Palo Alto Market. A cool and trendy public spends a fun day of shopping, with a gastronomic break in the numerous and international truck food offer and musical accompaniment with the best dj's and musical groups of avant-garde trends. This street market also offers craft, hand made and recycling. For the greater glory of those who exhibit and sell their creations in Palo Alto, the presence of influencers is very frequent, so the profitability of being in this space can be substantially multiplied.
The textile fumes are now gastronomic aromas from all latitudes, which have become one of Palo Alto's great attractions. Bougainvillea acts as a floral curtain to soften the late 19th-century industrial atmosphere.The peculiar venue is an old textile factory that started in 1875 and in 1988 was saved from demolition thanks to the commitment of cultural promoter Pierre Roca who transformed it into an artistic oasis. In Barcelona prior to the Olympic Games, with the urban transformation of the area, Palo Alto remained standing, with its enormous chimney as an emblem, as the most prestigious designers, artists, architects, and creators of the city were located inside. Artists such as Javier Mariscal, the creator of the Olympic Cobi, moved their studios there.
Textile fumes are now gastronomic aromas from all latitudes, which have become one of Palo Alto's great attractions. Bougainvillea acts as a floral curtain to soften the late 19th-century industrial atmosphere. And the artistic oasis to which Javier Mariscal contributed remains latent thanks to the co-founder of Palo Alto Market, Paula Mariscal, family of Cobi's creator. She is very proud of the results of the four years of this project, which has become one of the emblems of the Barcelona brand for the hundreds of young entrepreneurs who have developed their emerging initiatives from this already famous street market in Poblenou.
For Paula Mariscal, Palo Alto Market "is a stable platform for emerging initiatives" that helps young entrepreneurs make their way in the competitive and technological world of 21st-century marketing. This is attested to by the designer of the Colmillo de Morsa brand, Elisabet Valdecilla, who from the beginning opens her space in each edition to project and sell her fashion and jewelry creations. "Thanks to Palo Alto, I have managed to make my brand known much more widely. I have participated several times in Barcelona 080 fashion week, where many of the clients I have met here attend my shows," explains the designer.
Another young creator, in this case of jewelry and costume jewelry, Mireia Pardo, explains with great satisfaction her achievements at Palo Alto Market: "I have had a stand in this space for two years and what I have achieved (besides making my brand, Pardo, known), with the sale of my creations I have been able to pay for my design studies in Barcelona." Mireia now wants to expand her horizons in the world of fashion and states that the numerous sales she achieves in each edition facilitate this, largely because she offers an economical product that hardly exceeds 20 euros.
In this framework of innovation, imagination, and playful proposals, there is also space for solidarity. In the last edition, the firm Humana debuted its presence in Palo Alto, selling its vintage offer with solidarity objectives for the most needy. In addition, Humana has launched educational workshops for children, where they teach them that all second-hand clothes have a use, such as creating puppets with old socks.
The cool and trendy public that attends this market is already part of the spectacle that helps confirm that cosmopolitan, creative, and entrepreneurial Barcelona is moving with the times at the top of the world ranking.In this environment, the restless and entrepreneurial Barcelona has in Palo Alto one of its emblems for Barcelonians, native or from anywhere in Spain and other countries, who usually start the month enjoying the diverse commercial and leisure offerings of this market. To avoid unwanted crowds, entry to Palo Alto on Saturdays and Sundays when it opens costs four euros, one less if purchased online. Its website informs in each edition about the exhibitors, planned performances, and special events that usually take place. Residents of Poblenou and the Diagonal Mar area do not pay, an intelligent way to become one of the main attractions for those who live in this classic and at the same time new Barcelona.
A stroll through Palo Alto Market is highly recommended on Saturdays, for a more family-oriented public, or Sundays, for a younger and more playful atmosphere. The cool and trendy public that attends this market is part of the spectacle that helps confirm that cosmopolitan, creative, and entrepreneurial Barcelona is moving with the times at the top of the world ranking.