Mercado do Bolhão temporarily moves to La Vie Shopping Centre and the structural rehabilitation works begin on May 2

The Mercado do Bolhão is one of the most iconic markets in the city of Porto, in Portugal. The building is in need of long-due structural rehabilitation works. The Mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, visited the Mercado do Bolhão on April 9 to mark the beginning of the customer loyalty campaign as merchants and shopkeepers will temporarily operate just meters away the Mercado do Bolhão, at La Vie Shopping Centre.

The Mayor of Porto is confident that people from Porto and visitors to the city will contribute to the effort put in this rehabilitation undertaking as have all the political forces in the city and the traders as well, in a joint effort to get home to port in two years' time. 

The call is that everyone continues to shop from the same traders and shopkeepers that are temporarily placed in the La Vie Shopping Centre, just across the street, as of May 2.

The customer loyalty campaign includes the hand-out of booklets to customers that shop at Bolhão Market and that continue shopping at the Temporary Market located at the La Vie Shopping Centre. Giveaways and treats will be granted depending on the purchase made.

Housed in a stunning example of neo-Classic architecture, the Mercado do Bolhão was built in 1914 designed by architect Correia da Silva, but the plan project to building the city market had begun in 1839, when Porto City Hall decided to build a town square in plots of land acquired from the collegiate church, where once was a broad marsh crossed by a stream forming a kind of bubble, hence the name "Bolhão", which translates "large bubble" in English.

The market is arranged on two floors and has thousands of fresh vegetables and food items on offer, as well as horticultural products, Butchery and Fish sections. The external envelope includes clothing stores, cafés, perfumeries, and fabric stores among others.

The Metro of Porto is the fundamental partner in the rehabilitation period as the Bolhão Metro Station will be directly linked to the interior of the Bolhão Market building.

For Rui Moreira "this is an important way in which the challenge of this undertaking will be sustained".

The Mayor concluded by saying that "we will do it, we will do it well and we will see this through".

More information at www.mercadobolhao.pt.