The owners of Queviures Múrria, a popular grocery store in Barcelona, Spain, are getting exhausted of tourists walking into their store to check out the place and leave empty-handed. As a solution to make money off the curious wanderers, the store owners have set up a sign stating a $5.60 fee for coming in to browse.
Queviures Múrria has been operating since 1898 and is a fascinating spot in Barcelona with the vintage appearance of the product displays. The traditional design piques the interest of hundreds of tourists every day but the issue is that many people walk away without buying anything. The cured sausages, oils and wines stay on the shelves while the tourists walk away with no bags.
According to Toni Merino, one of the managers at Queviures Múrria, many tourists stroll into the store without even greeting the staff and they just click a few pictures before exiting the store. They don’t buy anything so the owners decided to charge the browsing customers to stop them right at the entrance.
Merino said the idea was supposed to be a joke but the staff and regular customers were getting so frustrated by the random tourists, that they decided to roll with the idea.
Merino clarified that he and his partners have no interest in actually charging the fee. In most cases, people have turned around after seeing the warning fee and it kept unwanted visitors out. Now people who walk into the store end up walking away with at least one item.
The store owners did have to explain themselves after social media backlash. Overall, the trick was effective in keeping the casual strollers out for good.