Wal-Mart at Teotihuacan

[caroline]

Well friends, Wal-Mart, it turns out, is about to open a new store in the shadow of the pyramids of Teotihuacan, just north of Mexico City. It's one of the great places of Mexico.

Which prompted me to reflect on why Mexicans might flock to Wal-Mart (and Carrefour, its French equivalent fighting it out here in Mexico)and Costco and Sam's.

I live in a wonderful town, Guanajuato, poised between the mountains and the plains at about 7,000 feet. It's a UNESCO heritage site with baroque churches, alleyways climbing hills, a decent university, excellent symphony, three theatres and the best arts festival in Latin America. And I can eat wonderfully--with some effort.

But I still hear the siren song of Leon, unlovely boom town that makes Hush puppies (shoes, not food for us food-obsessed people) , Florsheim and most of the other shoes that are bought in the US.

In Guanajuato, I can shop at a Mexican supermarket, Comercial Mexicana. It's crowded, dirty, smells and I have to push my cart up a ramp to parking on the roof.

I can go to Mercado Hidalgo, a stunning building designed in the late nineteenth century. Sad to say the wiring is a health hazard. The meat comes from a slaughterhouse that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy and ultimately from a natural but distinctly bad for beef diet of acacia thorn bushes, nopal cactus, and whatever else the runty cattle can scrounge. Tellingly it is sold for three prices; highest solid meat, middle meat with gristle and sinews, lowest you don't want to know. The vegetables are old and faded except for the wonderful standbys of nopal, chile, coriander, hand made tortillas, etc.

Or I can go to local small shops that charge an arm and a leg for canned tomato sauce, canned pickles and canned dulce de leche.

So like the rest of the middle class in Guanajuato I risk my life on the highway (one lane Mercedes at 100 mph, one lane mule carts and brick trucks at 10 mph) to Leon. And here's the list:

Carrefour: Really good Mexican meat from the big ranches in the north (including things like oxtail and kidneys), olive oil, vinegars, olives, dark chocolate, utensils, cutlery and glasses.

Delicatessans: wine, jamon Serrano, decent coffee, cheese.

Costco: Mexican asparagus, artichokes, blackberries, rambutan, lychees, tomatoes, etc of export quality, and lettuce that does not have to be disinfected (hoorah).

Wal-mart: Crema, Schweppes tonic water, capers, frozen New Zealand lamb (love lamb), New Zealand butter (Mexican has margarine added), totopos and sopes (tortilla based dishes), Chinese cabbage, and (for my American husband who yearns for the foods of childhood) American cake mixes, "black tea" (that is Camellia siniensis, tea meaning herbal tea in Mexico) and basic groceries at decent prices.

So to sum up this long shaggy dog story:

As Carrefour and Wal-mart enter the Mexican market, they are sweeping away the local competition. This consists of three supermarket chains, my much-loathed Commercial (actually there are branches that are pretty nice), Gigante and Soriana.

It's not clear that this is the overwhelming power of the internationals. They have not had such success in Brazil for example where the local chains were apparently better. The big Mexican three have combined and persuaded the government to overrule monopoly legislation so that they can try to compete. We'll see.

Meanwhile other Mexican food companies are thriving. Bimbo, founded by a refugee Basque family after WWII is now (I believe) the world's second largest bakery. It controls most of Latin America and has made large inroads in the US. I say this not because I like their bread (I wouldn't buy it if you paid me) but to say that US/French might does not necessarily rule in Mexico.

Should Wal-Mart be near the pyramids? Well, I'll leave that for another day,

Rachel

[ExtraMSG]

Having been there and climbed the million steps, I can't imagine the Wal-Mart will really be that close. It's kind of a barren, open area not immediately next to a population center, I didn't think.

Also, it seemed to me that a lot of market workers were low-paid employees of just a few suppliers. Seemed to be the case in most markets I went to. You'd often see the same markings on the back of ceramics showing a set of secret symbols for pricing.

I imagine that Wal-Mart will largely supply an improvement in quality and employment. The problem is that a lot of people are willing to give up a significant amount of quality for a more significant amount of money. So if they can buy mediocre tortillas for half the price of good tortillas, they'll probably do it. It makes sense for truly poor people where it can mean the difference of a child eating or not. I just hope traditions aren't lost in the process.

[esperanza]

If you'd like to read a report related to Caroline's post, click here.

There is protest, but Wal-Mart is pretty nearly inevitable everywhere here in Mexico. Here's a thought for you: Wal-Mart is the single largest private employer in this country. It's very popular with the Mexicans, although not for packaged tortillas. Most tortillas are still purchased at the neighborhood tortillería, just moments before they are consumed. Some Wal-Marts do have tortillerías in the stores; the tortillas are the same as those found at any other tortillería.

I've been forced to give some thought lately to changes--or progress--in Mexico. Not all change is progress, of course, but...

More on this later.

Esperanza

[caroline]

Extra MSG, I agree about Teotihuacan. The area around it is not very attractive and I don't think will be spoiled by Wal-Mart. I have a friend who grew up there is is understandably distressed. But I have to admit I think there's a certain poetic justice in the juxtaposition. Teotihuacan represented the ultimate in sheer power in the 3rd century AD, certainly int he Americas. And indeed I can't think of anywhere in the world where so much naked power was concentrated in one place represented by the huge scale of the construction. Now we have Wal-Mart, one of the great powerful institutions of the early twenty first century. An interesting comparison to contemplate!

Esperanza's experience with the tortilleras in Wal-Mart (or Carrefour or the Mexican chains all of which have them) is the same as mine: they are no different from the store-front tortillerias. Store-bought tortillas have declined in quality in Mexico but that's not because people are buying cheap at supermarkets.

Thanks to both for the thoughts,

Rachel

[fiftydollars]

As a Mexico City native I have fond early memories of climbing the harrowing steps up to the top of the pyramids to the sun and moon.

(Shaking fist defiantly) Damn those Wal Mart people!

[ExtraMSG]

Rachel, I was also questioning, though, how close a Wal-Mart could get. The gates to the place are pretty far, really, away from the pyramids and ruins themselves. You have to walk a bit or take one of those little Fantasy Island style carts. But I'm sure it wouldn't have to be too close to see it from the top of the pyramid. But considering all the stuff, like the horrendous smog, you can see from the top of the pyramid....

[esperanza]

Rachel, I was also questioning, though, how close a Wal-Mart could get.  The gates to the place are pretty far, really, away from the pyramids and ruins themselves. 

←

According to news reports, the Wal-Mart is being built 1/2 mile from the pyramids.

[fifi]

I have only been to the pyramids once and that was about 5 years ago. I can't imagine why they would locate a Wal-Mart anywhere near there, much less a half a mile away. We had a driver and set out from Mexico City and all I remember is a rural, rather vacant landscape, once out of Mexico City. Puzzling.

[LarsTheo]

I went to Mercado Hidalgo when I was in Guanajuato in 1992, and I did not buy anything there. It was not one of my favorite Mexican markets, but I love the town of Guanajuato. I especially liked the troubadors, one of whom gave us a tour of the city in the evening, and my friend Michelle bought a book that contains some of the legendary stories from the town. It's very romantic, but I guess the story about Callejón del Beso is the most famous.

I used to spend two months in Mexico City each winter (when I lived in San Francisco, where the winters are cold and wet), and I did most of my shopping at small markets or delicatessens. There was a store across the street from Edificio Condesa (where I often stayed) that had almost everything I wanted. It was attached to a bakery that turned out bolillos constantly, and fresh roasted chickens were available hot at all times. It even had a liquor/wine section, and there was a street market once a week half a block away. I never bought more than I wanted for about 1-3 days because the store was so convenient.

I hope I don't see Walmart on my next trip (March 2005).

[lmarshal1]

When I sat down in 1982 on a step near the top of one of the pyramids, knees shaking, terrified of heights, I would probably have lost it completely had I seen a Wal-Mart in the distance! lkm

[nickarte]

I agree with Rachel that shopping in el Bajio (ie. Guanajuato-San Miguel de Allende) can be challenging. We are in the desert, hours from the capital, and often vegetables are sad, fish unspeakable and variety limited. Much of the foreign and elite classes of San Miguel go to Costco-type places in Queretaro, an hour away and return with nice salmon, lamb chops etc.. As I live part of the time in Mexico City, I never do: I commute with a thermos bag full of fish, wild mushrooms, greens etc. But is it any better for seasoned/spoiled cityfolk used to high quality, living in any provincial place in the world?

Meanwhile, in el D.F., there are many more options: slightly more upscale supermarkets as well as "nicer" traditional markets and tianguises (street markets). And there is Walmart. I hate Walmart for many reasons- and I'm sure many eGullet members are aware of the labor dispute issues in the USA, but here's another distressing fact: prices at Walmart in Mexico are HIGHER than those, for the same items, in the USA! It's ugly. But many middle-class Mexicans like to go because many shops, the cleaners, the pharmacy etc. are under the same roof, there is parking, I don't know why else. A year or two ago I saw an item in the paper saying that sales in traditional markets in the city had fallen off 25% in the last several years, mainly due to competition from supermarkets. It's the way of the world. I suppose the situation is similar in Europe.

Meanwhile, out in Teotihuacan the situation is this: there is a large working/middle class, and there are no other supermarkets (ie. Commercial Mexicana, Gigante) in the area, and they WANT the Walmart! I'm afraid to tell you, folks, that it is already there, on the edge of the ruins, although, apparently not within sight of them, and, I think, open for business. So there's nothing we can do. You may remember that recently artist Francisco Toledo led a successful protest campaign in Oaxaca to keep a McD...(I don't write out dirty words in this forum) from opening there. He was involved with other intellectuals to protest the Teotihuacan Walmart as well, but the issues were different and, it being more of an intellectual fight than a practical one, they/we lost. Some of us here in Mexico do our best to support national companies, but, since NAFTA started, it's been an uphill battle. And you won't catch me buying Bimbo either! As we say here, "Ni modo..."

[esperanza]

Ni modo indeed. The latest is that there is a Wal-Mart going up just outside Pátzcuaro. I'm going over there on Friday and will report back on the status when I get home on Tuesday.

[LarsTheo]

I went to Teotihuacán week before last, and I don't remember seeing a Walmart in the town, although the buses I took may have missed it. I first went to the Indios Verdes subway stop to find a bus, and the one I took went through the streets of Teotihuacán instead of going straight to the pyramids and got into quite a traffic jam because of some construction on a narrow street, which delayed us about 20 minutes or so. On the way back, we got a direct bus that made almost no stops until we got back to Indios Verdes, and we almost missed that stop ourselves.

Here's a picture I took of my brother, standing on the first platform of the Pyramid of the Moon. I don't think a Walmart would be visible from there, although it might be visible from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, but we didn't go there. I'd been to the top of that before and felt no need to repeat the experience. We didn't go to the top of the Moon either because I remembered the photo ops being better lower down, unlike the steeper Mayan pyramids.

I only saw Carrefour stores from the outside in D.F., and they were not ugly, but I did see some less attractive Walmart stores on the trip from the airport. I never really liked the Commercial Mexicana or Gigante supermercados in D.F., but my friend Michelle goes to one in Condesa for certain items. Mostly she takes her servants to Mercado San Juan or sends them to local markets.

As for Teotihuacán - I found the vendors trying to sell obsidian objects more annoying than anything else, and I told my brother that the avenue had evidently never stopped being a major marketplace. The less commercialism there the better, but the sellers will be there if the buyers are there, it seems. I don't believe that supply always follows demand, however, as there are many cases where demand goes unsupplied. Food, for example, would have been more welcome than obsidian, at least for me, although I did bring my own tortas.

[caroline]

Glad to hear that Wal-Mart is not intrusive. I had the feeling it would not be. And the pyramids are a bit of a culinary desert.

The one suggestion on that front is to head off behind the museum away from the entrances. A few hunded yards' walk away there is a two-story restaurant going down into a huge lava tube. I only had a light taco-type snack so I can't say whether the main meals are good. But it is blessedly cool and dark after the blinding light outside. And there are evocative period photos of Porfirio Diaz, the late nineteenth-century Mexican president who authorized the initial excavations, and all his entourage having a meal in the very same place. All are in full dinner dress.

Rachel

[nickarte]

Just a practical note:

Instead of going to Indios Verdes metro and catching a local bus, it is much more practical to go to the Central de Autobuses del Norte (which can also be reached by metro: "autobuses Nte.") and take the bus from there to Teotihuacan. they are all the way on the left as you enter the station. They leave every 20 minutes, are non-stop and only cost $25 pesos!

The restaurant that Rachel describes is good- the food is like that of Cafe Tacuba and the 'ambiente' can't be beat- really wierd. I believe it is near exit 5 of the pyramids and called something like "Las Grutas".

[nickarte]

There is only one supermarket in La Condesa, where I live, the Superama. It is rather upscale, a la a New York supermarket such as Gristede's, yuppie in clientele, and a good place to meet a boy/girlfriend. Unfortunately, the Superama chain is owned by.......Walmart! Ni modo....