Goodbye to a pioneering business in Ibiza

Some young men Ernesto Escandell and Esperanza Serra raised the doors of their business, on Manuel Sorà street, when they were not yet married. For this reason, her mother also had to fulfill the day of surveillance of her in the small premises of the Navy. "He had to be a carbine because, since my grandparents were not married, they could not work together," recalls Carol Cardona, the third generation in charge of the establishment, with a laugh.

In addition to serving flats and bulk wine, the couple began to provide bar and restaurant services, taking advantage of the port activity. Precisely, Ernesto had been on board several years before and since he was little he had been in contact with maritime transport. "He was born and raised on the es Cavallet breakwater, because his father kept the accounts of ses Salines," he details.

Early Years

"Since she could go to Valencia, she began to bring fabrics to sell here." Not only in La Bota, but he also traveled through the villages on his bicycle to offer his product door to door. "People still knitted their clothes at home, but then they decided to also take ready-made clothes and that was the boom," he recalls.

Already a clothing store, La Bota had two entrances, one on Calle Manuel Sorá and the other on Plaza de la Constitución, next to the Mercat Vell. There it also became the first business to offer sales campaigns, creating such a stir that even "a policeman had to come because of the queue that formed in the market."

At that time, La Marina was the commercial center of the city and La Bota had "eight saleswomen." "And that was nothing more than a corridor that led to two streets." In addition to her grandparents, her great-aunt Antonia Serra, who just turned 99, was the store's first employee.

Carol digs through a family album until she comes across some photos from those early years. "Look, here you can still see the sign for 'Bodega La Bota' on the street," she points out in a black and white image where her grandmother poses next to hers, her brothers Juanito, Antonia and María. Also out is Carol's mother, Rosa, then a baby in the hands of one of her aunts.

"My mother immediately began to help her parents and at the age of 15 she was already working as a botiguera." The textile business was expanded with another nearby store dedicated to children's clothing. Carol still keeps the vintage aesthetic wrapping paper, both from that children's store and from the main one, commissioned by her grandfather 50 years ago.

Sant Antoni and the Eixample

Their activity also extended 60 years ago with a store in Sant Antoni, which was open for 15. In the Marina they had four warehouses to supply all the demand. "In the premises there was only one sample, of one color and one size, so there was a constant transfer in the warehouses to bring the clothes."

Carol remembers being in the middle of that swing for as long as she can remember. As an adult, 30 years ago, La Bota opened its current store on Calle Catalunya, "because the center of Vila passed to the Mercat Nou", although the store in La Marina remained for another five years. However, she worked with her father in the sale of industrial machinery, until her mother, about to turn fifty, proposed that she take over the business. "I preferred to be in contact with people than in an office," he highlights.

Over the years, after thinking about it for a long time and in her fifties, Carol has decided to have more time in her life. "I could continue with this business, because there are clients, but it is a lot of sacrifice and I prefer not to be with three jobs at the same time." "It is our turn to thank all the customers who have accompanied us for more than 70 years," he values.

Nevertheless, Carol does not hide her disappointment with public administrations for their lack of commitment to the traditional retail sector, which she has defended for 15 years with the Ibiza Center merchants association. "Small businesses should be taken more into account, which is what gives life to the streets and neighborhoods by opening every day," she says.