Comment: Homage to Catalonia’s remarkable retail arena

In my next reincarnation I want to return as Miguelito. Christmas comes early in Spain, and it stays late, arriving with St Nicholas (Santa Claus) on December 6 and departing after the Three Kings on January 6. A month of presents. Where else to be a child?

Black Friday used to be as rare in Spain as a white Christmas. It has now arrived, but as a one-off promotion not a trigger to the discount frenzy, à la US and UK, that lasts the rest of the year. It’s still the season of goodwill in Spanish retail, not one of bad margins.

By law, in Spain, winter Sales don’t start till after the Magi have delivered their gold, frankincense and myrrh.

I’ve just set up a base in Barcelona. Some find my timing curious: the Spanish economy is reviving but still morose and unemployment declining but still high; the debate on Catalan independence continues; and the Eurozone and its currency are woebegone (some soothsayers, haunted by the fear of Grexit, even raise the spectre of ‘Espexit’ next).

Barcelona, in the flesh, embodies the strongest retort. Shopping here is a vibrant mix of the traditional and the contemporary: in the chicest part of town, hundred-year-old ironmongers like Ferreteria Villa and world champion pastry chefs like Josep Ma Rodríguez Guerola – whose La Pastisseria resembles an art gallery – jostle amid the famous fasciae that

Spain has festooned around the world, not least Mango and Desigual from Catalonia.

The Boqueria, and many other food markets, celebrate an abundance of the freshest, finest food every day. And modern Catalan cuisine glorifies montaditos, tapas and raciones in a succession of tastes and textures that deliciously, and affordably, deconstruct the boring old three-course meal; try the restaurant Vinitus on Consell de Cents.

At the heart of Barcelona, epitomising the marriage of commercialism and creativity that’s always defined this great city, stands that modern colossus of the Spanish retail sector, El Corte Inglés. It really is a cut above.

There’s nothing more traditional in downtown retail arenas than the dominant grand old department store.

Elsewhere, some such flagships lie holed below the water line, over-footed, and under-fêted by shoppers, in the internet age. But El Corte Inglés on the Plaza Cataluña, the second store opening (53 years ago) in the group’s history, is a dynamo not a dinosaur.

It energises the city centre for residents and tourists alike, attracting more than 22 million visits a year.

With 2 million SKUs it’s a search engine made flesh, and although the group’s ecommerce arm is growing fast (up 60% this Christmas) a constant stream of innovation, including the injection of sharpened price points, keeps store footfall high and shoppers fulfilled.

Where else does a department store allocate 7,500 sq ft in a flagship to 9,000 SKUs from its DIY subsidiary (Bricor)?

El Corte Inglés continuously reinvents itself. It is the retailer reincarnate.

And it’s not just for Christmas.

• Michael Poynor, founder and managing director, Retail Expertise