Shopping in Mexico City

Mexico City provides for a cosmopolitan shopping experience that runs the gamut from trinket stores to major malls. Rumor has it that the "Central de Abasto," or  La Merced where most of the city's food, flowers and sundries are gathered to sell at the wholesaler level, is the largest market in the world. Perhaps, but for the purpose of knowing where to find things, you will need to know the whereabouts of four categories of stores: supermarkets, major shopping malls with department stores, boutiques, and traditional markets.

Purchasing from Street Vendors

Much of the merchandise that is being hawked on the streets is either stolen or contraband. Beyond actually being around the stalls, there's no real danger in buying on the street (in terms of law enforcement), but you might want to think twice about encouraging such activity. In some areas street vendors are allowed to sell their fruits, vegetables, etc. on the street on certain days of the week, in a kind of Grey Market. We have yet to hear of any problems with those goods. If you are really a picky cook with time on your hands, and a hankering for adventure, go directly to the "Central de Abasto" or "La Merced" to pick up your fruits, vegetables, fish, etc. It's legitimate, it's the cheapest and it's the freshest.

Supermarkets

The are between 500 and 1000 general purpose supermarkets in Mexico City alone (depending on how you define these self-service stores), making the area one of the most competitive in this segment in the world. Once you have settled into one area of town (see our Relocation Section), it is very easy to find out which are the ones that are nearest you. This is the only market in the world where Wal-Mart and Carrefour (the largest in the US and Europe, respectively) compete head-on. They operate massive stores with good prices, but there are fewer of them. Aurrera (Wal-Mart's partner), Comercial Mexicana and Gigante are the local chains and they are just as competitive in price and variety.

Each of the three national chains has three tiers of stores. Bodega Aurrera, Bodega Comercial Mexicana, and Bodega Gigante are their largest discount or "warehouse" stores. These are generally cheaper, but the selection is not as up-market, and they are in areas that are a little out of the way from the better parts of town. Aurrera, Comercial Mexicana, and Gigante are their mainstream stores with good sizes, good prices, and good variety. All three have smaller chains that are located more conveniently in more expensive parts of town. Aurrera has Superama, Comercial Mexicana has Sumesa, and Gigante has Super G. The stores are smaller and they carry a finer selection of everything from wines to imported meats. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that, for run-of-the-mill items, such as tissue paper, basic fruits, vegetables, and the like, it can be as much as 20% more expensive than in the "Bodega" stores.

Malls

Mexico City has at least one very good mall in each section of the City. Each mall has at least one anchor chain department store. Mexico's largest are Liverpool and Palacio de Hierro, both of which carry very complete selections of clothing for men and women of all brands, gourmet shops, electronics, appliances, toys, makeup, fragrances, watches, and everything else you might expect to find in upscale department stores in the US. The rest of the stores in Mexican malls are very much like their northern North American counterparts, from Gloria Jean's gourmet coffees to music stores and Radio Shacks. They also have a huge variety of top-notch movie theaters. In the northern part of the city there's Plaza Satelite, in the west there's Santa Fe (supposedly the largest mall in Latin America), in Polanco there's Pabellon Polanco and in the south there's Perisur. There are several smaller, more up-market malls, such as Pabellon Bosques and Centro Comercial Duraznos and Centro Comercial Lilas in Bosques, and Pabellon Altavista, on the street of the same name in the south.

Boutiques

Even though there is a smattering of boutiques in several areas of the city, the largest concentration of these is on Masaryk Avenue in Polanco and on Altavista Street, in the south. Sometimes known as Mexico City's Rodeo Drive, Masaryk has everything from Bulgari to Versace, via Peugeot, Ferrari and Mercedes dealerships. It's worth a look up and down, if nothing else but to see one more contrasting aspect of the Eternal City of Contrasts. Altavista also has some wonderful silver and jewelry boutiques, as well as others, from Timberland to BMW motorcycles. The look of Altavista is a little more rustic (the surrounding area has cobblestone streets), but both are worth a visit.

Traditional Markets

There is a huge variety of traditional markets for everything from silver to handicrafts. In general, for things that include garments, fixtures and furniture, the Historical Center is a cheap place to buy with a very large selection. Nevertheless, it would be wise to leave all of the jewelry and flashy watches at home and only take the cash you think you will need to make your purchases - shopping in the Historical Center should be done by, or at least in the company of, seasoned urbanites. Another market, which offers all sorts of product categories, including flowers, antiques and pirated goods is La Lagunilla. Once again, it is only for those people who do not fear crowds and a little big-city chaos. Especially regarding traditional markets, the best thing is to share experiences.

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