In our 'Balearic Unbelievable But True' series of articles, we bring you the story of the Ibiza Sales. In normal countries when a shop has loads of stock on its hands that isn't selling it has a sale to liquidate the items and increase cash flow. It's not rocket science, just good business sense.
In Ibiza this can not happen. It is against the law to have a sale which is not authorised by the Council of Commerce, Industry and Energy and shops which do can be heavily penalised.
This ironically named council sets the dates and time periods each year when all the shops in the Balearics are allowed to have a sale. This summer they've decided in their wisdom gained from sitting
around the office all morning drinking coffee, that the sales in Mallorca and Menorca will start on 7th July whilst those in Ibiza will kick off on 28th July.
Their reasoning is that in July Ibiza has lots of foreign visitors and therefore the shops will have plenty of customers eager to snap up the odd three piece suite at a non-sale price. Quite why this
reason should set Ibiza apart is a mystery as the other two islands also tend to be full to the gunnels of would be retail therapists.
We're mystified, but one thing is sure, we'll see you in the shops on the 28th trying to work out what 30% off €89.99 is!