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Ricardo Quintero has lived with his family for more than 24 years in a small house on Gabriel Roldós Avenue, Sauces 8, in northern Guayaquil, where he has set up a store and phone charging point.
In his two decades of work, he has observed how the industry has gone from having consistent sales every day to going dark in his own workplace. He has also observed businesses that opened and lasted a maximum of three months.
According to residents, this is where people from the north of the city gather, especially from Alborada, Samanes, Sosé and even some phases of Guayacanes.
In the section of av. Gabriel Roldós, between av. Isidro Ayora and Rodolfo Baquerizo Nazur, residents said that in the past, everything from restaurants to hardware stores were open until midnight. There were hardly any empty stores in that area, and all had regular customers.
Now, although there are still a dozen grocery stores, beauty salons, markets, and various restaurants, the number of tourists in the area has declined for five consecutive years, with a sharper drop starting in 2024.
Several stores have also closed this year.
“This area has always been busy, with people leaving from the sauce crab beds and coming here to buy whatever, but now there’s nothing,” Quintero said.
Since there are fewer people after 7:30 p.m., property owners in the area have chosen to modify their business hours. For example, Quintero closes at the same time as the pizzeria, around 10:00 p.m.
“We can’t stay here any longer, we don’t see anyone on the streets. Cars are crossing the road but they don’t stop, staying there is like inviting thieves to rob us,” said the owner of a pizza shop who came to the area two years ago.
He said when he opened his shop, he still had neighbors leaving their homes after 8:00 p.m. to go to restaurants or the market to shop. He said that has changed this year and people are no longer visiting the area at night for fear of being robbed.
“I think what ‘scare’ people off the most is that cars can no longer be parked safely because motorbikes or thieves who break into pedestrian streets start prowling around,” he said.
For Aurora Torres, “word of mouth” has influenced the industry. He said a few months ago, a group of boys came to a store and were attacked as they were leaving. They were about to get into a car when antisocial elements pointed guns at them and took everything they had.
“Those kids were students who lived around here, they came with more friends, they lived wherever. We haven’t seen those kids since, I think they even left the area,” Torres said.
In fact, this is another factor discovered by business owners on Av. Gabriel Roldos.
Jorge Ortega, who has lived in Sauces 8 for more than a decade, said that the arrival of new tenants has decreased since the end of 2023. Likewise, many families have sold and left their homes, moving to the coast or to La Aurora, in the state of Dole.
“We are no longer that busy, commercial or even safe area and people are leaving and that has also been affected because fewer people live in the area and those who do live in the area have had bad experiences with robberies and better make sure they are safe,” Ortega said.
Urdesa is full of “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs. What is going on in that area north of Guayaquil?
One of the requests raised by residents and business owners is for more patrols, as there is a UPC just a few metres away.
“There are police officers near us, but we don’t see them hanging around. If seeing the police can reassure customers, it’s a good thing for us,” said one merchant.
Another request was to change the lighting fixtures to LED lights. According to neighbors, white light helps to bring a sense of tranquility to residents and customers.
“We want this area to come back to life, for things to get back to normal, for businesses to be sold again,” the neighbors said. (I)
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