We present portraits of figures doing business in the center of Kladno. In places where much is lost or has already been lost. They attempted, largely with optimism and success, to maintain a lively facade downtown. Today we present Blanka Kaštelová, owner of a medicinal plant shop near the pedestrian zone, but also, for example, a descendant of the famous Kladno shoemaker Václav Císara or the Korych family, the origin of the famous Kladno athletes.

Part of your family lives in the house where you run the shop. When did this combination of business and residence begin?
My grandfather, a shoemaker, bought the house after the First World War and set up a shoemaking workshop with a shop on the ground floor. We have the kitchen on the second part of the ground floor, separated by a partition. Grandpa always had three or four day laborers, and he rented out a room to one of them to improve his business. With five children, he has a lot to do (laughs).

Did communists nationalize their home in 1948?
They didn’t take him, but he moved with his shop to Zádušní Street, and our family started occupying the entire ground floor. There were only a few shoemakers, so the communists gave him a limited trade. He died in 1969.

When are you bringing your business back to your home?
In the ninety-sixth year. We updated windows, demolished partitions and expanded the store. We rented it until 2010, it contained, for example, fashionable clothes. For the past thirteen years, I have been in business with herbs and similar items with my son. And I’m doing well, I’m enjoying it.

How is business done in the center of Kladno?
Since we are an established and dare I say popular shop, business is doing well. Many people come to us, and lately many young people.

You are one of the few traders in the center who does not regret the bad times…
If I compare it to when I was sixteen, when pedestrian zones were still alive, when you couldn’t even fit in them, how many people had been there, then I could probably complain (smiles). On the contrary, currently this area is a dead zone. I wonder what will happen when new investors buy most of the homes in the center. Maybe life will return to him…

Jan Murarik