Noelia, a fishmonger at Mercado Salamanca in Málaga, has posted a TikTok video showing shoppers how to buy at a fish market, starting with salmon. In the clip, she tells viewers that the fish is easy to eat, compares it to a chicken fillet and says it has no bones.
She also argues that supermarkets charge far more because the product is already prepared, while neighborhood fishmongers, local shops and market stalls can offer better prices and better quality. Noelia says a customer can simply ask for a salmon fillet or a salmon loin, depending on how much they want to spend, and that fishmongers can prepare it exactly like a supermarket tray.
“Hoy te voy a enseñar a comprar en una pescadería, porque seguro que nadie te lo ha enseñado, sobre todo a la gente que no se atreve o no sabe y nunca ha ido a una pescadería,” she says in the video, aimed at people who have never felt comfortable stepping up to the counter. She adds that salmon is “un pescado muy fácil de consumir, porque es como un filete de pollo. No trae espinas y seguro que en la mayoría de supermercados lo habéis visto, pero no miráis el precio y eso es súper importante.”
Her message lands at a time when more shoppers are doing their weekly buying in large supermarkets rather than in neighborhood stores. That shift has put pressure on small businesses, which must compete with the convenience of longer hours, wider product ranges and the ease of doing a full shop in one place.
Noelia’s pitch is not that fishmongers cannot match supermarkets on convenience. It is that they already can, while also letting customers choose how much to spend and how the fish is cut. That leaves the real question for shoppers in Málaga and beyond: whether price and habit will keep sending them to the supermarket, or whether more of them will stop at the market counter and ask for the fillet, the loin or both.
