Century-old Lleida bakery closes for lack of succession

Forn Nou Joan March, a bakery on Carrer Magdalena in Lleida, will close permanently on June 20 after more than a century in business, according to local newspaper Segre. Mari Carmen March, the current owner, told the paper the family had no successor to continue the shop, ending a business run by three generations of the March family after taking over an already operating bakery. The closure adds to a broader problem facing traditional shops in Lleida, where local trade groups and business owners have warned for months about retirements, labor shortages and the lack of younger family members willing to take over long-running businesses. Toni Frías, president of the Gremi de Forners, told Segre that many establishments cannot continue because they cannot find staff or because children of owners do not want the workload that comes with the trade. (segre.com) ### Who is closing, and when? June 20 is the date Forn Nou Joan March plans to lower its shutters for the last time, Segre reported on June 3. The bakery is located on Carrer Magdalena and has operated for more than 100 years, with the March family running it across three generations. Mari Carmen March said the bakery had long tried to make customers feel at home. (segre.com) Segre reported that a message on the shop’s board reads, in Catalan, “Come in. My home is your home,” a phrase March said reflected the way the business wanted to serve its customers. ### What did the owners say made the bakery distinctive? (segre.com) Mari Carmen March told Segre that the bakery considered itself a pioneer in making “coca de recapte,” a traditional savory flatbread associated with Lleida and Catalonia. She said the product, made through a process passed down across generations, became one of the shop’s signatures. (segre.com) A customer quoted by Segre described the bakery’s defining feature as its close treatment of regulars. March said that was deliberate, adding that the family tried to avoid making the shop feel “cold” and instead did things “with care,” according to the report. ### Why is the bakery closing now? Mari Carmen March said the immediate reason for closing was the lack of generational succession and the shortage of professional bakers. (segre.com) She told Segre that she grew up in the bakery her grandfather and then her father had run, later transforming the business with her husband by adding a café. Thirteen years after being widowed, March has continued to run the establishment on her own, Segre reported, with help from her son Joan Castellà for eight years. She also singled out the bakery’s baker for praise, saying his dedication and commitment had been important in recent years. ### Is this an isolated case in Lleida? (segre.com) Toni Frías, the head of the local bakers’ guild, told Segre the sector’s situation is difficult because it is not easy to find people willing to work in it. He said one obstacle is self-employment, and added that many family businesses close because there is no staff or because owners’ children do not want to become, in his words, “slaves” to the job. (segre.com) Segre has separately reported similar succession problems among other neighborhood shops in Lleida, including longstanding retailers and food businesses. Those reports described owners approaching retirement without family replacements and trade representatives warning that traditional local commerce could shrink further in coming years. (segre.com) ### What happens next for other shops facing the same problem? Mayor Fèlix Larrosa said La Paeria and the Chamber of Commerce will launch a support program aimed at helping businesses without generational successors remain active. Larrosa told Lleida TV, as quoted by Segre, that the goal is to make succession possible for owners who want it. (segre.com) June 20 is the final scheduled trading day for Forn Nou Joan March, according to Segre, while the proposed city and chamber program is the next named effort tied to similar cases in Lleida’s local commerce sector. (segre.com)