Benidorm will present in the next plenary session the tender to turn the disused part of the Municipal Market into a supermarket

Benidorm government team will take to the next plenary session the tender to convert and allocate the part of the Municipal Market that is in disuse to a supermarket activity. The councilors of Contracting and Commerce, Aída García Mayor and Lorenzo Martínez, have explained that this measure seeks to revitalize a part of the Market, which to date has been almost always empty, creating a modern sales area that also serves as a complement to the stalls that is in operation, in turn invigorating this municipal space and increasing the flow of customers ”.

The objective, they have stressed, is that "the Market becomes a true nerve center in which both activities, traditional stalls and a supermarket, coexist and complement each other". For this reason, "in the specifications that will govern the tender and that will be voted on in plenary session on June 28, it is clearly established that the supermarket activity to be carried out in this sales area cannot coincide with the Market stalls that are operating" .

The councillor of Contracting has explained that “this tender reaches 10 positions, seven of which are unoccupied. Of the remaining three, two will close due to retirement in the near future, while the third has asked to move to another location within the same facilities, which will allow all the positions on the final stretch of the Market to be included in a single batch ”.

The bidder who remains with this sales area must pay the City Council "837,290.65 euros plus VAT for the seven currently vacant positions and acquire the concession for the three occupied positions." This price covers the entire concession term, valid until June 30, 2055.

García Mayor has indicated that "to participate in this open competition it will be necessary to prove a minimum annual business volume equal to or greater than 1.2 million euros, and manage at least three supermarkets of a similar or superior entity" to the one proposed in the Market. Once the specifications have been approved and the tender published on the State Procurement Platform, interested companies will have a period of 15 days to present their offers.

The Councilor for Commerce has stressed that “to date, the constant attempts by the City Council so that the positions without activity in the Market could be started, generating economy and employment, have not had a good result and that is why this new alternative is now being considered to achieve those goals ”.

Martínez stressed that "this tender will also entail significant improvements in the Market facilities, since the successful bidder will have to carry out a series of improvements". As specified by the mayor, "part of these improvements are focused on the new sales area, but others reach the whole of the building."

Thus, among other improvements, it will have to renew the toilets on the ground floor and the air conditioning and lighting of the new sales area, install a new elevator for this point, reform the meter room, paint and adapt the loading and unloading area of the Market, aesthetically renew the mechanical ramp that connects the ground floor with the basement as well as the exterior signage of the entire building to give it more prominence and uniqueness.