One of the most typical of Christmas, the endless queue at the gates of Doña Manolita not recur. At least in the Gran Via The most popular lottery office with posters warns Madrid in July that will leave the premises it has occupied since 1931 to move “just around the corner”: a former smoker’s Mansion, in the street del Carmen, 22.
The charge of the establishment, Concha Crowns, says that in a few months contract expires with local owners and justifies the move in the desire to “provide better customer service.” The new space is bigger, the Gran Via was only about 40 square meters, and provides access for the handicapped because it has no stairs to the entrance.
Coronas rejects the rental price is one of the reasons for the change, unlike what happened last year with the cafeteria Zahara he shared with Mrs. Manolita portal and it closed after failing to reach an economic agreement with the owners of the building . The manager of the owning company confirms that there has been no economic negotiation. “We were delighted with them, but they told us that they left because they were looking for a room with other favorable characteristics,” says the manager of the company, who recognize that they are in the process of application to convert the building into a hotel.
The lottery office manager is not afraid to change, says, “is to improve.” This is the second move for Doña Manolita that after its opening in 1904 in San Bernardo Street, moved to the Gran Via 27 years later. The change, as in 1931, will be in July, “to keep the tradition.”
The announcement surprised not only to customers of the establishment, but also the adjacent premises. Some thank lose sight of the queues that every Christmas they obstructed the entrance, although others confess that the clientele attracted lottery also benefited them. The seller of the dance and costume shop Menkes affects many people “discovered the store through the queue and even went to look around.”
Their new neighbors, however, believe that the queues were hurt. “I have 20 years in the number 20, Calle del Carmen and I know what is the Doña Manolita, the queues of at least four hours,” says the manager of Shoe fear Díez.
The lottery sold 67 million tickets each year (at street level and on the Internet) and is one of the most prizes distributed. Special Drawing Last Christmas, for example, sold a second and three fifth prizes. In its 80 year history, has seen the Gran Vía lost cafes and cinemas in exchange for winning clones of big clothing chains. Pepe, who runs a shop in the century-old street for 45 years, said that the departure of Mrs. Manolita reduced further, the distinction of the section that goes from Callao to Montera. “It’s a mess, all the terraces have disappeared. What you see now in the Gran Via is in any provincial capital,” he concludes.
Source: El País
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