Peter Mork has been traveling through Cuba and Mexico. In his travelogue, descriptions, and analyses on his blog, he writes about the Wal-Mart that was located at Teotihuacán, site of the famous Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon.
Here is a brief excerpt:
After the long decent down the face of the pyramid, we jumped in a taxi to take a look at the town and grab some lunch. I asked the driver where the Wal-Mart was located (to be clear it's actually not even a Wal-Mart, it is a Bodega Aurrera, a subsidiary of the firm). It was south of the main square he told me. When I inquired about the protests that surrounded its opening, he confirmed that there was quite a commotion at the time.... The Bodega Aurrera was on the outskirts of the business section, nowhere near the pyramids, and in many ways not what I had expected. Not only was it much smaller than the Wal-Marts back home (or even in other parts of Mexico), there were no obvious signs on the building or elsewhere advertising the store's name. Yet I guess there was no need for such direct advertising, as people seemed to know exactly what was inside. Shoppers flooding in and out showed that the business was clearly busy. Em took a picture of the outside of the store in the parking lot, but a security guard quickly asked us to put the camera away. He told us that If we would like, we could ask management for permission, but due to all the negative publicity the store had received we would need their ok first.
Inside it was just like any well run department store or market you could find anywhere in the world. Clothes, beauty products, fresh fruit and vegetables… you name it. I've heard complaints throughout the trip how expensive electronics are in Mexico compared to the U.S. but in this store the prices seemed very comparable. A 5-disc DVD player went for a little over $600 pesos (around $60 USD). Everywhere you looked there seemed to be happy customers filling their shopping carts. We joined in and bought some basic supplies we needed for the trip.
There is much more at his blog.
Posted by TheEclecticEconoclast on September, 3 2005 at 06:25 AM
