2018 has been declared The European Year of Cultural Heritage with the slogan: "where the past meets the future". In Barcelona we have a wealth of emblematic shops that are struggling to survive under the pressure of the big chain stores and globalized retail business. We thought it was important for our students to explore our own heritage and how it has been evolving throughout the years, the survival and coexistence of these emblematic shops with the new shopping centres and department stores responds truly to the slogan "where the past meets the future".