Vitoria launches campaign to attract commerce

Retail is the thing here — not ecommerce in the abstract, but the physical shops that keep a city feeling lived in. Vitoria-Gasteiz has decided that one problem is no longer just getting people to buy locally. It is getting people to open shops at all, or take over the ones whose owners are aging out. So on May 7 the city launched a new campaign, “Mantén viva la ciudad. Trae un comercio al mundo,” built to make shopkeeping look like a viable life choice, not a fading trade. (vitoria-gasteiz.org) ### What actually launched? The city government presented the campaign with María Nanclares, the councillor for economic promotion, employment, commerce and tourism, alongside two local retailers — Violeta Saldaña of Floristería Munain and Tycho Vandenbergh of gourmet shop Corre 34. The pitch is simple: local commerce gives streets life, supports the local economy, and still offers room for people to build a business of their own. (vitoria-gasteiz.org) ### Why frame it this way? Because this is not just an ad campaign for shoppers. It is a recruitment campaign for future shop owners. The slogan leans hard into the personal side of entrepreneurship — the idea that opening a neighborhood business changes the entrepreneur’s life as much as it changes the street. The (vitoria-gasteiz.org)ealization, and turning a passion into a profession. (vitoria-gasteiz.org) ### Who are they putting in front? Eight traders from Vitoria-Gasteiz. That is the core of the campaign. Their stories cover both kinds of entry into retail — starting from scratch and taking over an existing business. The list includes Floristería Munain, Corre 34, Caravana del Surf, Hipsteria, Zubi, Ibarrondo, Ondea Moda, and Unzalu. Basically, the city is trying to sell the idea of commerce through people who already made the leap. (vitoria-gasteiz.org) ### Why does generational handover matter so much? Because some of the problem is not that stores are unviable. It is that owners retire and nobody replaces them. Violeta Saldaña’s floristry example is useful here — her case is explicitly presented as a handover, not a brand-new shop. That is why the city keeps linking this campaign to its broader “Plan de Relevo Generacional,” which is aimed at making those transitions easier. (vitoria-gasteiz.org) ### What else is the city doing? Two other pieces sit underneath this campaign. First, Vitoria activated a new aid line for generational succession in commerce. Second, it recently completed a study on retail handover in the city to figure out what measures could increase the number of successful transfers. So the campaign is the public-facing part — the softer side — while the grants and diagnosis are the policy side. (vitoria-gasteiz.org) ### Is this a response to a real decline? Yes — and that is the part that gives the campaign weight. In a 2025 municipal debate, opposition figures said more than 100 shops had closed in Vitoria over the previous decade, including more than 30 since 2023. The city pushed back on the idea that every closure meant pol(vitoria-gasteiz.org) enough that the city carved out a dedicated program for it. (noticiasdealava.eus) ### So what is the city really betting on? That commerce is partly an economic issue and partly a cultural one. A subsidy can lower the barrier. A diagnostic can map the problem. But neither one fixes the fact that younger people may not see “shopkeeper” as an attractive future. This campaign is trying to change that perception by making local retail look modern, personal, and worth inheriting. (vitoria-gasteiz.org) ### Bottom line? Vitoria is treating emptying storefronts as a pipeline problem. The city is not only trying to save existing shops — it is trying to convince a new generation that opening one is still a serious way to build a life. (vitoria-gasteiz.org)