Os Legumes da Tininha

Stalls: 128-143

Celestina Moreira, affectionately known as "Tininha", is the third generation of her family working at Mercado do Bolhão. Her maternal grandmother, Conceição Martins, came to work at the market at a very young age, namely at a vegetable stall located at the entrance of Rua Fernandes Tomás. Later on, the stall was put in her name and her two daughters would help her in the business. When Tininha's grandmother left the market, the stall was taken over by her aunt Maria Olívia Martins and by her mother, Antónia Martins Pereira. A few decades later, Tininha's aunt fell ill, and her mother was left alone to manage the stall.

Twenty years ago, as fate would have it, Tininha's mother needed to undergo surgery and thus called her daughter to replace her in her stall. Tininha was 42 years old, and she was unemployed at the time, she happily accepted her mother's request. The experience went so well that she stayed here until today.

From those times, Tininha remembers the cold days, the initial difficulties she had in learning to weigh vegetables with the old scale, but also how rewarding it was to be able to talk to people, to listen to them getting things off their chest, and to exchange smiles.

In 2012, aged 80, Tininha's mother went home. Since then, this saleswoman, heiress to the family business, has taken care of the stall and of customer orders with great affection and love for the craft.