Dear Sir,
My friend received a phone call inquiry about an empty retail location under his house in central Palma. The client wanted to open a Mini-mart nearby Bar Bosch. But there already exist at least 2 in the same area.
If you’ve been watching the city centre over the past few months you may have noticed that a lot of empty stores have been quickly set up as fruit stores or mini-marts in areas that usually have fashionable clothing stores or retail upmarket brands. Even with a reduction in rents many places just cannot continue trading in the current climate.
However more opportunities have arisen for middlemen that can arrange business visas and residency papers for foreigners wanting to move to Europe buy investing in a quick and easy venture. Apparently the client pays a lump sum and start to work for zero wages until paperwork is secured and they can then swap countries to a place with a better economy while the middlemen the resell the store to the next hopeful client.
Nothing new as far as immigration scams are concerned but when Jason Moore asked in Saturday’s paper what the future high streets will look like, I worry that it might just be rows of 1 euro stores and minimarts before too long. So let’s all buy local and support our small businesses more!
Gerard Laracy
Palma