Sant Roc Market

The Sant Roc Indoor Market in Alcoy was established in 1954, when the expansion of the city’s Ensanche district made it necessary to build a new indoor market; construction began on March 9 of that year and lasted more than five years due to funding problems, resulting in a single-story building covering 3,815 m², with a 537 m² inner courtyard and a central fountain, designed by municipal architects José Cortés Miralles and Roque Monllor Boronat, at a cost of 5,200,000 pesetas and with 218 initial stalls occupied by about 100 vendors (now reduced to 49 following successive mergers of stalls). On May 29, 1998, the merchants formed the “Mercado de Sant Roc, Economic Interest Group” to privatize management and undertake a comprehensive renovation, initiating a process of constant modernization that included the launch of home delivery in 2000, distance sales via telephone, fax, and email, card payments in 2007, air conditioning in the sales hall in 2003, the development of e-commerce as part of the Alcoy Digital City project, the renovation of the flooring and the emergency electrical system between 2007 and 2008, and the creation of customer parking and Wi-Fi coverage in 2009–2010; these efforts earned it the “Mercado Excelente” distinction from the Valencian Foundation for Quality, first at the bronze level (2011) and later at the silver or four-star level (2018), placing it among the only three markets with that rating in the entire Valencian Community, and in recent years (2019–2025), it has continued to invest in sustainability, notably through the installation of a photovoltaic self-consumption system with 220 solar panels in two phases, in addition to consolidating its online sales and renovating its facilities, thereby combining traditional, community-oriented service with the modern amenities of a leading market hall.