Overview
- Spanish Social Security affiliation statistics released this week confirm a decade-long loss of about 7,500 self-employed shop owners in the Basque Country.
- Gipuzkoa accounts for roughly 2,800 of those losses, reflecting especially sharp attrition in that province.
- Regional outlets report that changing consumer habits, online sales and the spread of large chains are key drivers of the contraction.
- Journalists highlight a lack of generational replacement among proprietors, which is closing long-standing businesses without successors.
- Streets increasingly display shuttered storefronts with for-sale or for-rent signs, narrowing local retail choices and pushing some shoppers to travel farther.