‘B de Barcelona’ sticks to its commitment to quality and innovation, which earned it the ‘Barcelona Commerce’ award

Maite Guillem, the owner of ‘B de Barcelona’, a Barcelona keepsake and souvenir shop on Avinguda Gaudí, was persuaded by her retail association colleagues to put in for the “Barcelona Commerce” awards in 2016. And she won. The jury chose her establishment in the category “prize for innovative commercial initiative of the year”. Now any retailers who want to follow B de Barcelona’s example can put in for the this year’s awards. The registration period ends on 14 July.

The award represented support for Maite’s efforts in developing a business that has only been going a couple of years. One day, with her experience in the architecture and design office run by Juli Capella, she decided to take the plunge in the world of commerce and sell designer items and souvenirs.

Her drive led her to get in touch with industrial designers, architects, painters, jewellers, craftspeople and marquetry specialists. All these meetings gave rise to genuinely Barcelona-inspired items, as Maite stresses, because she wanted to get away from anything unrelated to Barcelona and classic gadgets no longer in fashion. What’s more, the things she sells are made in Barcelona. That means visitors and locals, who are also among her customers, have a shop for buying items made with “lots of care” as a souvenir of their visit to the city, and designer items that ooze Barcelona all over. 

“B de Barcelona” shattered many souvenir stereotypes. And everything you can find in the shop stems from a commitment to innovation. You won’t find what’s sold here on offer at visitor-geared establishments anywhere else in the world.

What you can get from the shelves and display cases in this small shop of only 16 square metres includes jewellery items made with recycled materials, such as furniture decoration that has become the main feature of a pendant. A second life for many items. With good taste. With creativity. Card models of Modernista icons, the famous flowered paving stone or “panot” designed by Puig i Cadalfach that you can see on lots of Barcelona pavements, Modernista hydraulic tiles reclaimed by architects that can either be used as an ornament in the form of a small picture or for a stool, paintings by various artists and “vela-tapas”, which are candles with the fragrance of stuffed olives, bread and tomato or potato omelette. This is also the place where you can get urban anti-theft backpacks that are made locally, like many of the items for sale in this shop, which is in the Gaudí hub on Barcelona’s most visited Modernista route and now a tourist shopping icon. A range of quality and different offers. 

As the prize comes with technical advice, Maite chose online marketing and social media from the specialities available, together with business innovation. She was already on Facebook and Instagram but took advantage of her training to improve in communication and digital positioning.

Today “B de Barcelona” continues to forge ahead through shop and online sales while staying true to its founding spirit. Having originally sold 14 products it now sells 45. And as it develops, more support comes its way, from guides such as “Essentiel”, which include the shop as a place for finding quality designer items with an (authentic) Barcelona connection. That goes with Maite’s dedication to work with her fellow retailers in the Avinguda Gaudí association to maintain the local commercial community.