SPAIN: Cash-strapped Spaniards are overcoming their resistance to buying second-hand items

Record ID: 836337

  • Title: SPAIN: Cash-strapped Spaniards are overcoming their resistance to buying second-hand items
  • Date: 20th September 2012
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SECOND HAND CLOTHING SHOP "FIGURE" SIGN BEHIND SECOND HAND SHOP WINDOW READING: "THE BEST PRICE AS IF IT WAS NEW" SECOND HAND PAIR OF SHOES ON DISPLAY AT SHOP'S WINDOW SIGN INSIDE SHOP READING: "SECOND AS FIRST"/ CUSTOMERS INSIDE SHOP CUSTOMERS LOOKING AT CLOTHING SANDALS ON DISPLAY SHOP'S SELLER TALKING TO CUSTOMER (SO
  • Embargoed: 5th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • City:
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Business,Economy,People,Lifestyle
  • Reuters ID: LVA7IL8GAJLQW8MDMKQIX2P3YCK3
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Hard times are forcing Spaniards to overcome their love of the new; for the first time in a generation, many are learning to fix things when they break - and even to buy goods second hand.
    During the boom years, Spanish consumers developed a cultural resistance to buying old things - or even quite new things if they didn't work perfectly. The economic crisis which fell from the blue four years ago has changed all that.
    Buying a new sports car or designer clothes is not an option for many now as government cuts are biting, but is good news for second-hand dealers.
    Noemi Logrono, the impeccably-dressed Ecuadorian owner of 'Figure', a second-hand clothes shop in the middle-class district of Chamberi, said her consumer habits have shifted in the last year or so.
    "Young girls who had a minimum salary and were usually on a very tight budget, nowadays don't have the money to buy even second hand clothing. And people who used to come here only to bring clothing because they had a lot, now they also come here to buy clothes," she told Reuters Television.
    Logrono said though people are still hesitating, her shop has seen a surge in middle to upper class clients who would not have bought second-hand garments before.
    "There is still a lot of reluctance, a lot of resentment. People are still reluctant to do it but I think as this crisis worsens -- and I think this is going to go on for a long time -- we will continue to have people coming here. People who had never entered a place like this in their lives," she said.
    The shop, which sells some designer items, is set in a tasteful manner with carefully arranged shelves and display windows which means it does not look like a typical second-hand store.
    Customer Jackeline Villanueva, a Chilean working as a lawyer in Madrid, said the way items are organised doesn't make one feel they are buying used clothes.
    "There are several shops like this. But I like the style of this particular one. It is very nice, items are easy to find. They have everything organised by sizes," she said.
    Retail sales in Spain have tumbled for more than two years straight, the economy has slumped into its second recession in three years and buying habits have shifted from conspicuous to cautious consumption.
    Forty percent of Spaniards bought or sold second-hand items in 2010, up a third since 2006, according to second-hand chain Cash Converters, and second-hand businesses say things have picked up.
    One in four of Spain's workforce is currently unemployed and austerity measures designed to slash 65 billion euros ($83 billion) from the country's deficit by 2014 are taking their toll on consumer confidence.
    The ruling centre-right government recently increased sales tax to 21 percent, a move likely to further dampen spending.
    Seventy percent of cars sold in Spain are now second-hand, compared to 63 percent in 2010, and half of the country's vehicles are more than ten years old. Scrapyards are suffering their own crisis as people hang on to creaking cars for longer.
    At the same time, second-hand shops, until recently a rare sight, are springing up. Non-governmental organisation Humana now has 26 charity stores in Spain, compared with 17 in 2009.
    In the neighbouring district of Arguelles, health worker Ines Serrano was looking for a second-hand car. She wants to save around six to seven thousand euros at an uncertain time for civil servants, who have had their pay slashed.
    "I am affected by the cuts because I am a civil servant and I need the car for work and I need to change it relatively frequently. This time I am considering buying a newer second hand one," said Serrano, who spends a lot of time driving on Madrid's highways for her job.
    Angel Rodriguez, the sales manager at Arguelles Cars, said he had changed the range on offer to include cheaper models since the onset of Spain's financial crisis.
    "Everything's changed -- six or seven years ago four or five new cars were sold for every used car, now three or four used cars are sold for every new car," he said.
    Empty storefronts are a common sight in Madrid now, but in one corner of the city, a small business is thriving -- a furniture repair store. It changed the services it used to offer to stay afloat during the crisis.
    Colombian Armando Hernandez, 59 and his wife opened a frame shop in 2003, but when Spain's boom turned to bust five years later, business dried up. They put a sign in the window offering furniture repairs and have been overwhelmed by the response.
    "Our situation has improved doing furniture repairs because it had become really difficult with frames. Our lifestyle has improved in everything -- food, rent. We live a bit more calmly, although it's not like we can save anything," said Hernandez.
    The Terracotta workshop in the central Madrid neighbourhood of Prosperidad is piled with chairs, wardrobes and tables - people even bring in furniture from value Swedish chain Ikea for repair.
    Hernandez works 9 or 10 hours a day and say learning the new skills required and "eating dust" all day has proved difficult -- but they needed to put food on the table.
    Hernandez said that even though the economy is expected to pick up in mid-2013, it will not be a convincing recovery, meaning second hand stores will remain part of Spain's "retail landscape".
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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