For 126 years, Calle San Antonio in Gijón had a flower shop carrying its founder's surname: Casa Múgica. It was opened in 1894 by Pedro Múgica, a Basque gardener who had run the public gardens of Vitoria and San Sebastián, and it was later run by his children, his grandchildren and, until 2020, his great-granddaughter. It closed when she retired. We're telling this story because it explains so well what a neighbourhood shop in Gijón used to be like, and because it's worth knowing before you go looking for it: it's not there anymore.
A Basque gardener who chose Gijón
Pedro Múgica Otaegui (1862-1959) was a notable figure in gardening in the Basque Country and Asturias. He trained as a gardener and rose to become director of public gardens and trees for the councils of Vitoria and San Sebastián.
He left those posts and set up on his own in Gijón. Here he created the Jardines de la Reina and, in 1894, founded the horticultural business that bore his name. It was the start of a line of gardeners who arrived in Asturias in the 19th century and left their mark on many of the region's private gardens.
The shop at San Antonio 20
The flower shop stood at number 20 Calle San Antonio, right in the centre. The premises were designed by Miguel García de la Cruz, one of the local architects of the time, who was related to the family.
The business passed from parents to children over four generations. Pedro Múgica's daughters, for their part, opened a hat workshop: a family with a trade in its hands.
The 2020 closure
Casa Múgica closed in 2020, when the founder's great-granddaughter, Pilar García de la Cruz Múgica, the fourth generation, retired. With her, a 126-year family story came to an end.
If you go looking for it today on Calle San Antonio, you won't find it. That's exactly why we think it's a story worth telling: it's the story of a trade and a family that sustained a street for more than a century.