For more than a decade there has been talk of the decline of neighborhood stores. First, with the arrival of large stores; then, internet sales; later, the pandemic and, finally, inflation that left consumers’ pockets depleted. Between 2020 and 2024, many neighborhood stores hit historic lows in sales. Some closed. Others survived by reducing hours, adjusting margins or postponing investments. But in the last year, local businesses have gained ground, as confirmed by the retail trade index, published this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE). The change is seen especially in those businesses that sell more than just the essentials. Household goods establishments, bookstores, cultural businesses, market stalls or businesses linked to technology are those that have grown the most in the last year. In this large group, neighborhood businesses – which the INE calls single-location – reached their best sales level since 2010 in 2025. Small chains – where any business with less than 25 stores and 50 employees would enter – have risen even more, reaching their best figure since 2008. This is extracted from the official statistics, which consists of a base 100 index that takes sales for the year 2021 as a reference. In percentage terms, an interannual rebound in retail sales of 3.3% is observed in businesses with a single point of sale and 1.2% for small chains. It is a more moderate growth than that recorded in 2024, when both reached a rate of 5%. In any case, the evolution strengthens the upward trend. Behind this improvement there are several overlapping factors. The first is purely demographic and economic: Spain today has a larger population and more people working than a few years ago, largely thanks to immigration and the recovery of employment after the pandemic. This increase in the consumer base sustains the growth of commercial activity, even in a context of inflation and loss of purchasing power. In practice, it translates into more consumption in absolute terms, although not necessarily higher spending per person. “There are more people buying,” summarizes Rafael Torres, president of the Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC), “although that does not mean that each person consumes much more.” The second factor is a change that is more difficult to measure and has to do with people’s habits and preferences. After the pandemic, a part of the population has begun to value proximity, specialization and personal treatment again. This trend, which is not observed in food products, has benefited other niche businesses. As Torres explains, «in specialized trade, people look for advice, trust and experience. That is something that small businesses can offer better than anyone else.» The story is different when you look at food, the most competitive field and most affected by inflation. Here, the recovery is slower and uneven. The owners of these small businesses have still not reached pre-pandemic levels, although they have managed to recover from the worst moments of the inflation crisis, when their sales fell sharply. In 2025, they have fallen just short of that threshold with year-on-year growth of 4.2%, showing a clear but still incomplete improvement. Small food chains have recovered a little more ground, driven in part by their greater ability to negotiate prices and adapt to a consumer increasingly sensitive to the cost of a shopping basket. But this has not been enough to reach the levels prior to the outbreak of the health crisis. In both cases, sales grew in 2025 at a rate of more than 4% compared to the previous year, a notable rebound that breaks completely with the declines recorded in the last decade. However, Torres asks to read this information with caution. “In food, more is being billed, but that has a lot to do with the rise in prices,” he warns. “Inflation has been very high and has pushed up sales due to a question of price, not volume.” Furthermore, the advance of large supermarkets and private label continues to corner small businesses, which are losing share in an increasingly concentrated market. This pressure explains one of the great contradictions faced by the owners of these businesses: although sales are rebounding, their financial situation remains fragile. In this regard, Torres insists that the increase in turnover coexists with higher labor costs, strained rents and a regulatory burden that weighs especially on smaller businesses. «There are almost 3,000 regulations that affect trade between local, regional, national and European legislation. Complying with them requires time and resources that a large company can assume, but for a self-employed person they are an enormous burden.» Added to this is the rise in the minimum wage and social contributions, which has more directly affected a sector with salaries traditionally lower than the average. Given this scenario, the president of the confederation warns that there is no direct relationship between “selling more and earning more”, since in many cases the margins have been reduced.
