For many decades Cospicua was the Commercial Centre for the South of the Island. One of its main squares, destroyed during the Second World War, was known as the old Market Square. This square used to thrive on Friday evenings – the payday for dockyard workers – as a number of stalls would have been erected just outside Dockyard Gate selling such items as foodstuffs, poultry, rabbits and clothing.

These customs have now changed and various localities in the South of Malta have set up their own supermarkets. Also the dockyard workforce has been substantially reduced, workers are no longer paid every Friday, and the Cospicua Dockyard Gate is no longer used by workers. However the weekly open market in old Market Square has moved to Jubilee Street (Triq il-Ġublew) where it developed into a weekly open market offering a wider variety of products at bargain prices, making the market a popular one with both locals and tourists alike.