Plaza Mayor is gradually losing the few local shops that survived amid tourist photos and expensive cafés. Bazar Aribas, the last toy store of its kind in the arcades at the heart of Madrid’s tourism scene, has announced its permanent closure after more than a century of selling spinning tops, tin cars, dolls, and small wooden treasures to generations of families. El Sereno de Madrid, the chronicler of the historic center, has shared the news on social media along with a clear message for the nostalgic and the curious: “Take the opportunity to stop by and say goodbye,” because the closure is coming very soon, on March 31.
It was opened by Juan Arribas Aguado in 1919, when the square was still called Plaza de la Constitución, and since then it has remained in the hands of the same family, with children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren behind the counter. For decades, its display cases have been a magnet for children (and those not so young) who walked through the arcades and stood glued to the glass, with that mix of desire and fascination that only toys not wrapped in plastic and algorithms can evoke.
What is lost when a century-old toy store closes
In a downtown increasingly overrun by cookie-cutter souvenir shops, Bazar Aribas resisted the uniformity: you didn’t come here to find the latest toy from TV, but rather spinning tops, action figures, simple board games, and objects that seemed to come from another era. Its Art Deco-style sign, red wooden trim, and glass storefronts created a scene that many street photographers and guides to historic Madrid have turned into a must-see stop, a symbol of that neighborhood commerce that is slowly fading away.
Stepping into Bazar Aribas was also stepping into a way of understanding play that has little to do with screens or connected toys. Traditional toys—simple, analog, designed for children to invent their own stories rather than have a device tell them a pre-made one—coexisted on tall wooden shelves, with stacked boxes and display cases crammed with small pieces that had to be examined carefully. That organized chaos was, in fact, part of its charm: a place where time seemed to move more slowly and where chatting with the shopkeeper was part of the shopping experience.
