Mercearia Tradicional in Benavente, Santarem

Inaugurated on March 29, 1959, this is the last traditional grocery store in Benavente. For more than 50 years, our customers, generation after generation, have found in our space the unique quality of products as traditional as cod, wines, liqueurs, whiskeys, sweets, chocolates and dried fruits, among so many others.

We opened our doors on March 29, 1959. At that time, we were just one of the many grocery stores in Benavente and we were in a time when the stores, which today we call traditional commerce, namely grocery stores, had a much broader role. that the supply of food, often acting as a kind of "service agent" where it was possible to cash checks, withdraw the pension, pay the dues of the Casa do Povo, etc., and which also functioned as a point of help to who went through more difficulties, giving rise to the existence of the famous book of credits where the date was written, what the customer had taken and the value of the purchases.

At that time, people from the country came to the village practically every week to prepare for the following week and our shop, particularly on Fridays and Saturdays, was filled with people who left with their baskets on their heads after having made a "rodilla" with a cloth or newspaper sheets to balance them. In more ancient times, many came riding their donkeys and our backyard was often transformed into an authentic "animal parking lot", where they could be kept, have shade and fresh water.

To serve customers (as they were then called) we have always relied only on family members, and it was common, behind the counter, to join three generations.

There were several establishments like ours scattered around the village, but we were always lucky to be one of the main ones. We have always done everything to look for new niche opportunities in order to promote and diversify our business. At the beginning of each year we dedicated ourselves to seed potatoes and the rush of trucks coming from the port of Setúbal or from the north of the country to unload the sacks of potatoes that so often did not even make it into the warehouse, being immediately placed on tractors and vans of the many farmers who lined up outside our door. In the summer, at the height of agriculture, we started to meet customers on the hills of the estates where the ranches from Beira gathered to work in the fields. At a time when everything was loose, olive oil, butter, sugar, beans, biscuits, etc., we had to weigh, pack and load it in the van where we traveled through the fields selling to those who had no way to travel to the village.

Just as we dedicated ourselves to new niches, there were also others that we did without and, as such, we stopped selling fabrics, knitwear, tablecloths, cloths for sheets, wool for knitting, the famous Coração and Âncora lines and the no less famous Sedalinas and Castelinas. We started to dedicate ourselves exclusively to food products.

Gradually, the economy transformed. Banks expanded their branch networks; the so-called large stores spread across the country, regulatory requirements for commercial establishments (especially the smaller ones) grew. Traditional trade, where the customer is not just a number, but almost part of an extended family, where he is addressed by name and asked how the family is doing, with whom one often shares the more or less happy things in life life, this type of trade was felt and grocery stores, bakeries, sausage shops and many other stores gradually closed their doors, making us the last active grocery store in Benavente!

In a mixture of stubbornness, necessity and what is in our blood, we did not give up, but went looking for ways to adapt to these new times. Once again we embarked on types of products that we had not yet attacked, such as the sale of fruit. And we took an even bigger step: we started to sell, in special seasons, certain goods associated with them. So at Christmas we dedicate ourselves to dry fruits and chocolates, offering a variety that makes our shop window (without false modesty) the most appetizing in the region. At Easter we dedicated ourselves to selling almonds and our assortment is well known to our customers and the target of great interest whenever this season arrives.

We have also created a wine cellar that we are proud of and where it is possible to find a huge variety of table wines, port, whiskeys, liqueurs and other drinks that bring to us customers from various other locations.

This is who we are today! This has been our journey with the certainty that we will do everything to continue doing what we have always done throughout these times: providing you with good service and the good quality of what we offer you. And this is where the tradition continues!

To our customers and those who have already been, we can only thank you. To those who are not yet, we can only invite you to visit us!