Papelerías.
My favorite spanish word.
When I was going to Alicante, Spain this summer I was recommended one of them, Papelería Eutimio. At first I had some trouble finding it with my very bad map. Never trust Google maps and Spanish addresses, you’ll really only have the cirka’ish locations… Fortunately the place I went to first, ie. the Wrong place, – was the Tourist Information in Alicante. So. Off we go again…
The store itself was actually around the corner, nearly not visible to the bare eye. From the outside a really narrow store (and an even narrower door), but as I was about to learn – a local stretching deep inside the building in front of me … I had caught myself thinking “this Better be worth it” just moments earlier. When finally arriving and opening the small door – my oh my if it was…
Established in 1935 by Eutimio Fernández Duque, Papelería Eutimio is still going strong today and is run by the third generation Duque’s, the three brothers Eutimio, Victor and Francisco (One of them on vacation in Norway when I was there actually!! Maybe we visited each other’s stores at the same time..? That would have been kinda cool.).
Walking through the doors of Eutimio is like going back in time. It’s like stepping right in to the year 1950. Wooden desk along the local, with the entire product range stacked up the walls in glass cabinets. It amazes me that a store of 2012 can actually survive being built this way. Tremendous.
Going further in, I discover more marvelous stuff; embossing machines, cutting machines, perforation machines…there’s no end to it!! I could stay there all day (imagine what you would find!!)! So, added to my dreamhouse wishlist; all these inspiring machines tucked in to my very own perfect workshop.
If you’re going to Alicante, it is definitely worth stopping by Papelería Eutimio! It’s an experience in itself, and also I’m SO pro supporting independent shops wherever you are in the world. They are the spice to the soup we call the world!
——————————————————————————————————————————————————–
The Paper Guide also takes you inside the Munch Museum / Oslo
Destination Lisbon!