Bargaining in Barna

When it comes to bartering in Barna, you have to pick your battles. It’s hard to heckle and bargain in one of the many clothing ‘empires’ throughout the city (Zara, Stradivarius, Bershka or H&M), they’re as regulated as they are ‘trendy’. But if you head into some of the smaller, boutique shops in the narrow streets, you might have a better chance. Barcelona’s not really known for a city where you’re able to drive down the prices, but it’s not impossible-you just have to know your target.

Steps: There’s a few scenarios one can try. Firstly and probably one of the easier ones, is to approach the street vendors. They’re easy to spot, usually lined along Paseo de Gracia or near the boardwalk heading into Barceloneta. Their merchandise includes every and all types of knock offs (although some look very real!), jewellery, dvd’s, clothes and plenty more random and useful items. With these guys it’s easy to get the price down. Basically, take their first quote they offer you and cut it in two. If they won’t budge, then slowly inch away and start talking to the next guy over. Almost always they’ll come after you and give you a lower price. Maybe not the one you’d proposed but at least you’re in business to start negotiations. After a few minutes if they’re still unwilling to take it down further and you feel like you’re overpaying, tell him to throw in something else for the same price. Two for one, type of thing, or three for the price of two. That usually always works and you walk away with one extra item you didn’t have to pay for. Barcelona’s street vendors are usually always on the look out for cops, so they’re eager to make a sale as fast as possible. The more determined you are to pay them what you want, make the sale and depart in a timely fashion, the more likely they’ll go for it.

The other scenario is the small boutique bargain. This is a bit more difficult as these are proud business owners and usually their products are ‘not up for negotiation’, so you have to take these on a case by case basis. That being said, go into a store, look around and smile at the owner.  Make a bit of small talk, start eyeing the item you want and ask how much it is. Then put it down signifying it’s a bit out of your price range. At this point you can usually get a feel for whether or not you’re barking up the wrong tree. If they look like they feel a bit badly then continue, with the self pitying ‘oh I’d love to buy this but then I won’t be able to afford my hostel for the night’ face. But if they kind of turn around and pretend you don’t even exist, it’s pretty much a lost cause. If you think it’s worth it though, ask very politely, if there’s any ‘rebajas’ (sales) or if there’s any chance you could get a small discuenta. It might seem a bit pushy, but a lot of these small stores are just happy to sell at all, so they’re often up for it, it just depends on how you ask.

Where: The best places to bargain are in the old city below plaza Catalunya. The Born, Gothic Quarter, Barceloneta, Raval, these are all better bets than the Eixample neighborhood and the more ‘pijo’ places near Via Augusta and on Paseo de Gracia where it’s virtually impossible to get any type of discount. Gracia neighborhood also has some great little niche shops, some run by hippies, so that’s also a good option to try and it’s above plaza Catalunya at the end of Paseo de Gracia.

Phrase list:

A few key phrases that might help in the bargaining process:

1-Hay Rebajas ahora? (are there sales now?) In Spain there are a few times a year when the entire country goes on sale. Each store normally doesn’t regulate itself, but it never hurts to ask.

2-Puede hacer una discuenta? (Can you give me a discount)

3-Es Demasiado Caro-it’s too expensive (this is a good phrase to use with the street vendors)

4-Dame tres para dos (give me three for 2, also good with street vendors)

5-Si  comprare dos cosas puede hacer una discuenta? (if I buy two things can you give me a discount?-not bad with boutique stores)