Motril will soon have a 6-screen cinema within a new shopping centre which is going up behind the Al Campo gasoline station.

The main shopping store there will be Decathlon, which is a sportswear and sports equipment products outlet.

The Councillor for Urban Development, Antonio Escámez, explained that besides the above-mentioned company, the MOT-21 plot would also contain a restaurant, a Mercadona, as well as the multi-cinema.

If things go to plan, businesses will start opening there by this November.

But not everybody has broken out the party balloons and farting cushions yet because the left-wing party, IU, is against the project, considering that there is urban-development speculation behind the project. It is worth remembering that they were also against Al Campo going up.

Small businesses are also worried that they will be killed off by the large shopping centres. Again it was the same concern expressed by the this sector when the arrival of Al Campo was announced.

Editorial comment: having spoken to one shop owner in Almuñécar in a central high street, specialising in home decorations, it is apparent that the small business sector is becoming extinct, being unable to compete thanks to technological changes (internet purchasing, the preference of the young) and the likes of Al Campo, Ikea and Chinese bazars.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)