(Photo: Joalpe/Wikimedia) Anyone who visits Belo Horizonte and does not venture into the Central Market cannot say that they have visited the city. Founded in 1929, the market is a gastronomic and cultural center that offers, with more than 400 stalls, artisanal cheeses, sweets and other delicacies more typical of Minas Gerais.Between one cheese bread and another, a dish of pork skin or liver with jiló, the traditional Limonada or a dose of the best cachaças from Minas Gerais, each visitor has the opportunity to learn how to keep the market vibrant and relevant for the people of Belo Horizonte .
This authentic experience of BH's daily life and its non-stop hustle and bustle will receive another birthday present. On the eve of turning 95 years old, one of the city's main postcards gains a new official sponsor. In an unprecedented partnership with the KTO bookmaker, there will be an expanded calendar of events, signage updates, content for social networks and even naming rights actions.
The agreement is the first for its market in the world. The objective is to further promote the history of the shopping mall and its importance for Minas Gerais culture and tradition.
“Mercado Central is a case of management where traditional and contemporary harmonize”, states Ricardo Campos Vasconcelos, CEO of Mercado Central. “We will celebrate this moment by launching the centenary in 2029,” he added.
The investment in the arrival of KTO from Minas Gerais to the Central Market reinforces the investments that the company has already made in the state. Investing more in Minas Gerais, the platform has been a strong supporter of local content creators and recently sponsored the Minas Tênis Clube basketball and volleyball teams.
The partnership with Mercado Central guarantees KTO access to several commercial properties. Among them, exclusivity in the segment and priority in holding events on the website.
“KTO is very proud to be contributing to the preservation and development of one of Belo Horizonte’s greatest heritage sites. This movement further confirms our commitment to Minas Gerais and the people of Minas Gerais”, expressed Cássio Filter, the company's country manager in Brazil.
Rebirth of the hypercenter Negotiations over the rights to use the name Mercado Central are another example of recent investments in the Belo Horizonte hypercenter. The region is going through a new process of reconstruction and occupation of previously almost abandoned spaces.
The movement began in 2018, when Mercado Novo began to receive new and more modern establishments on the upper floors, which had been unoccupied for many years. After the pandemic, the same situation became even stronger around Praça Raul Soares, close to the two markets. The bars in the region attract young people from Belo Horizonte, always ready for something new.
The agreement is similar to that of neighboring Minascentro, which occupies a block on Avenida Augusto de Lima in Mercado Central. In June, the traditional event space in Belo Horizonte signed a naming rights contract with a company from Minas Gerais that operates in the tourism and corporate events segment, becoming known as BeFly Minascentro.