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The old style "supermarket" has a hard time competing with the new.  The one on the left has been for sale for over a year.

The backbone of the Transmontano economy is goods and services.  Traditional commerce in the small towns has always been a mainstay for the villagers who come usually once a week to do their shopping.  In Chaves it is still a Wednesday, and coincides with market day, “dia da feira”.  The town fills with village people who stand around on the corners exchanging news, the women going to the fair to buy clothes or food, the men filling the hardware stores and farm implement stores to stock up on needed goods for their livelihood.  After shopping, the traditional cafés in the center are filled with villagers, most of whom are approaching retirement age.

Although much of the so-called traditional commerce has either disappeared or been forced to renovate shop windows, there is surprisingly still much of it left.  What is more surprising is that, even with the arrival of two major supermarket chains in Chaves, the small grocery stores still survive.  For how long no one knows.  Many of them pay no rent so they can just hang on until someone is willing to pay them for the “keys”, the right to take over the spot.  Then many of them will retire with what they hope is a nest egg.

The center of almost every town’s traditional commerce is the Rua Direita, Direct or Straight Street, whose origin comes not from “right” as might appear, but from “direct”, meaning the direct way to go from one medieval gate to the other in the old town center.  Chaves has a Rua Direita and it is still a vibrant part of the town.  Many of the shops have been or are being renovated to appeal to a more urban younger consumer.  The old and the new often stand side by side.  You can see a Benetton shop between a shop selling religious articles or another one selling plastic buckets, brooms and assorted kitchen material, much of it collecting dust.  A walk along the street reveals the variety of the commerce.  There are 16 clothing and shoe shops, 5 jeweler’s, 4 cafés, 11 glassware and home decoration, 3 photographer’s, 3 undertakers and religious articles, 2 grocer’s, 3 stationery and book shops, 3 bedclothes, 1 sports shop, 2 hardware, 2 appliance shops, 1 real estate, 1 tourist agency, 1 record shop, 2 butcher’s, 2 barber’s, 1 pharmacy, 1 music instruments shop, 1 key maker, 1 furniture shop, 1 suitcase shop, 1 perfume shop, 1 umbrella and hat shop (haberdasher’s), and one group of doctor’s offices.

The orientation of commerce towards certain areas reflects the cultural habits of the area.  In Chaves, for example, there are still an excessive number of barber shops (10 or more in a town of 12,000 people) and hairdresser’s, butcher shops, small clothing shops (boutiques) and cafés.  The price of a haircut is still low—but the conditions of hygiene often leave much to be desired—the butcher’s can sell their meat at the same price as the supermarkets, and with better service and quality, the great number of cafés reflects the habit of always stopping for a cup and spending a long time in a chat (in small towns shops will often close while the owner runs out for a cup of coffee) and the exaggerated number of boutiques reflects the low investment needed to start this type of business.   Many of these small clothing shops also go out of business in a short time.

Below we can see the types of small commerce characteristic of the Chaves economy (2001)  

 A recent addition to the town has been the construction of two medium sized hypermarkets.  This has given jobs, albeit low-paid to locals but has at the same time spelled the doom of the Mom and Pop grocery stores.  As mentioned above, most of them are up for sale or rent.  Below we can see the major supermarkets in Chaves:

Modelo-a large supermarket belonging to the Continente group; E. Leclerc-a French hypermarket; Pingo Doce-a medium sized supermarket belonging to the Jeronimo Martins group; Favorita-medium sized, locally owned.   

Armazens Europa, a paradise for Spanish shoppers

 One type of commerce that employs many people in Chaves is the warehouse-like shop that caters to the Spanish.  Two very large ones are located on the highway leading north towards the border.  There is another one near the river below the castle.  They mainly sell linens, religious objects, garden decorations, lamps, and rugs.  A lot of the products—such as the statues of the Virgin, the paintings of Jesus with the eyes that follow you around the room, and the statues of black slaves holding up a table—are definitely kistch.  Spanish tour buses make it a point to stop and these stores do a good business.  

 Since the town is located so close to the border, there are also many furniture stores.  Some of these are outlets for factories located near Oporto.  Vila Verde da Raia, on the border, especially has a large number of these stores.  

     Salaries and Cost of Living

Introduction to Economy  |  Agriculture