They lost their jobs in the pandemic, moved to a ghost town and just opened a grocery store

The story of Gándara is like that of many other towns in the country: the train stopped working, the famous dairy factory that provided work for most of the inhabitants closed and this area of ​​Chascomús entered into decay.

However, since 2020, and thanks to the ideas of a entrepreneurial coupleVirginia Costa Soto and Sebastián Cappiello, Gándara was once again on the radar of adventurous travelers, it came to life again.

That year, in the middle of the pandemic, these two on-board commissioners stayed jobless when the LATAM airline left the country. In search of new opportunities, they decided to settle in the native Chascomús of “Vika”, as her friends call Virginia.

There, they started their new project in Gándara: El Vergel Shelteran accommodation service with two cabins, with a pool and grill, ideal for those looking to escape the city and spend the weekend in a rural setting.

But they decided to go for more. The couple wanted to offer something that could also be enjoyed by the barely 15 families that live scattered throughout Gándara among abandoned houses and dirt streets.

This is how at the end of March they inaugurated Grocery Gándarathe only space where you can go to have a drink, eat and relax with friends in this almost ghostly place.

Because, the truth is that the inhabitants, almost all of them related to rural activity, travel 25 kilometers to Chascomús, in order to satisfy their basic needs. There are no supermarketsbazaars and until now, there was no tea house or restaurant.

“You may not know what it means for a family that lives in the middle of nowhere, not having to travel 40 km for some croissants or a soda. We do, and that is why we get excited when the neighbors visit us and they leave happy with their food,” reads one of @pulperiagandara’s Instagram posts.

This project began to be conceived in 2021, when Vika and Sebastián went one afternoon to the train station grounds, where people go to drink mates, to do an experiment: they brought 3 dozen croissants and coffee to sell. They were taken out of their hands. This is how they said: “Here we have to open something”.

The grocery store is located in the former dairy factory restaurant and right in front of the train station, now in operation.

It is decorated with different antique objects that the owners were recovering from their family. In addition, it has chairs, tables, cups and even coolers from a emblematic hostelfamous for its croissants.

“A few months ago we started to outline this project in a more tangible way and it occurred to me to put it on Twitter (now X). The post went viral and we appeared in newspapers and radio stations. People contacted us to give us a hand. One of those people was Juan Castoldi, third generation of Atalayalinked to Gándara and my family by a red thread that one day I will tell you about… he offered to help me,” explains Vika about how the interior of the well-known inn came to be “La Pulpe”, as its owners call it.

Pulpería Gándara offers a simple menu, but effective: croissants with ham and cheese, cakes (ricotta, dulce de leche and coconut, pastafrola), alfajores, empanadas, sandwiches, coffee, vermouth. They have a non-tacky and vegan option.

They open Saturdays y Sundays of 10 a 18.30.

The place is linked to memory, to what this town once was. Walking through its streets invites you to imagine what life was like in that place years ago, when the factory, famous for its yogurts and which had the same name as the town, was a successful company recognized nationally and internationally.

The problems came in the 90s when the owner of the company, Carlos Rodríguez, died. With the closure, the employees left from Gándara looking for new job opportunities.

Today, you can see many abandoned houses who were one of those workers.

Among the disused buildings, the San José convent. It was donated by Mrs. Manuela Nevares de Monasterio and built based on plans by the renowned architect Alejandro Bustillo. It was inaugurated on April 21, 1940, although the first seminarians arrived between March and April 1939.

It functioned as a minor seminary, philosophizing, and novitiate. In 1954 religious activities stopped being carried out and closed its doors definitively on April 17, 1974, when it was sold. It is one of the structures that is best preserved, despite abandonment.

The Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel It is another of the attractions. It is also a Bustillo project. It was inaugurated on September 26, 1938 and two years later it was annexed to the seminary.

But not everything is abandoned. The school Primary farm orchard No. 21 May 25 is in operation.

Also the train station. The train that leaves Constitución towards Mar del Plata passes through these tracks, although it does not stop. On the other hand, the service that Alejandro Korn – Chascomús does does stop.

The station, of English architecture, was built thanks to landowners who gave up their land so that the railway tracks could be installed. It was inaugurated on December 14, 1865.

• By car, take Highway 2. It is 120 km away.

• By train, from Alejandro Korn or Chascomús to Gándara. On weekends there are 6 daily frequencies.

• Gándara grocery store: coffee with milk, $1,800; hot chocolate, $2,000; empanadas, $1,400; crescent, $700; pastafrola, $1,400.

• El Vergel Shelter. Two cabins with capacity for up to 4 people. A weekend for two people (two nights), $140,000. Includes breakfast at La Pulpe. They practice ecotourism instagram: @refugioelvergel.