11 Comments so far

1. Roberto on November 7, 2009 12:01 pm

   This is great for the residents of the area, hopefully it will bring the prices of groceries more affordable for all!

2. mike on November 9, 2009 5:44 pm

   Roberto, with all due respect, my question is, “For which residents of the community will this be ‘great’?”

   No doubt the arrival of a local Walmart owned subsidiary will make the lives of all expats, and some Ticos, more convenient, and maybe even a little more economical.

   I say maybe because as a compulsive comparison shopper, I can say categorically that shopping at either the Walmart/Pali in Hone Creek, in Limon, or at the Walmart/MasXMenos in Limon is not necessarily a grand bargain in comparison to shopping locally.

   On some items, of course there are some savings. But, overall, none of the Walmart subsidiaries that are flooding the region really offer any great bargains.

   My worry is this.

   Once the new “walmart” opens here in this small town, it;s likely to do what Walmart has done in virtually every small, rural locale its invaded in the States – namely put most, if not all, of the local mom and pop grocery stores out of business.

   So, with much of the truly local work force here working for 1000 colones an hour and being paid, if they’re lucky, once a month; what happens if the local “Walmart” drives out the few remaining locally owned pulperias where such workers can buy rice, beans, sugar, milk, eggs, and bananas, and sign the “book” and pay the proprietor at the end of the month when they colect their often paltry wages from the foreign business owners looking to grow rich on eco-tourism?

   What happens to those people? The local Walmart is not going to have a notebook to record their purchases and let them pay at the end of the month.

   Will the upscale American, Canadian, and European owners of trendy eco tourism establishments cosign on a credit card for those folks so they can buy food at the local Walmart because there are no more locally owned pulperias willing to extend them credit the old fashioned way until they can pay at the end of the month?

   Now, to be sure, I am being a bit facetious, but these are also very real concerns and anyone who pretends or claims that they are not, is a fool living in denial.

3. Roberto on November 10, 2009 12:31 am

   For someone who is so against Walmart, you visit their establishments often! Business needs to find their niche in the community in order to compete with Walmart, and at the same time be aggressive with their pricing! Bottom line is a win-win for consumers! I worked for a company that competed against Walmart in those same rural areas that you mention, and guess what we did just fine, good prices, great customer service,clean stores. Can’t wait to get to town and see the new stores, and also go shopping at Piripli to see my old friends.

4. mike on November 10, 2009 7:22 am

   Roberto, the key word that you used is you worked for a “company”. I’m talking about genuine mom and pop operations. Like the pulperia in Cocles by hotel Yare, the one across from Villas del Caribe, et al.

   Now, I’m not saying their closing is necessarily going to happen, but the track record where I’m from in New England is pretty clear. When walmart moves into a community, it, more often than not, devastates not just small mom/pop grocery stores but entire downtown retail markets.

   Its why in several towns in New Hampshire, Vermont, and on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, communities, both individually and collectively, have fought and succeeded in preventing Walmart from coming into their town/region.

   You also failed to address my primary concern. If the worst case scenario occurs and this Walmart subsidiary does put out of business many locally owned pulperias where local, low wage workers can obtain credit the old fashioned way – with a handshake, a notebook, and track record of paying at the end of the month – where will they shop, or how many options will they have, especially if they live a cash economy, hand to mouth life, have no credit or debit cards, and many working class people here still do not? you can be sure HyperMas/walmart is not going to keep spiral notebooks tracking what a guy who chops people’s property for 800 or 1000 colones an hour, or the woman who cleans that gringo’s house for the same pay, will need to pay at the end of the month for their groceries.

   That’s not going to happen.

   This is one of those scenarios where what will no doubt be progress for some, could also mean hardship for others.

   Again, to point that out is not to be “anti-progress” it is just being realistic.

5. Manu on November 10, 2009 7:44 am

   what I see as an an absolute shame – is the location of the new Am/Pm store….OCEANFRONT???? since when do chain store supermarkets have ocean front space in a tourist town – where instead such spaces should be for restaurants, bars, stores, hotels? I also doubt the store will have a Caribbean “look” and feel. PV is losing it’s touch..and racing towards the Quepos/Jaco look…all as a result of zero planning.

   We need to sit down and define/ plan the future of PV if it is to be successful moving into the future. Look for McDonalds or KFC to open up real soon!!!

6. Roberto on November 10, 2009 9:48 am

   Just want to mention also that Mega Super is a very comparative rival of Walmart in Costa Rica.

7. mike on November 10, 2009 11:22 am

   Now, that’s interesting because I was told by someone I assumed to be relaible that the big store coming to town was, indeed, a Walmart subsidiary.

   But, either way, it still begs the question of what could happen to the many lower income folks living and working here if the Mega Super puts small mom and pop pulperias out of business, and those folks’ access to stores where they can get credit the “old fashioned way” becomes increasingly restricted and limited.

   Why don’t you respond to that concern?

8. Roberto on November 10, 2009 1:06 pm

   Also last time I checked Costa Rica is a Democratic country, no one is holding a gun to their head and making them shop at Mega Super.

9. Brendan on November 14, 2009 8:55 am

   I would say that the real worry with the Walmart invasion is that people are often not educated on the effects it can have on your community to have a large chain move in. The worst case scenario is that it puts the moms and pops out of business. But before that ever happens, assuming it does, it immediately takes the profits out of the community.

   Goods will be cheaper, but that typically doesn’t result in more savings for the individual, it means you buy more junk. And where do the profits end up?

   Unfortunately, I would imagine that the stores will provide credit to their shoppers, much the way the Monge and Gallo mas Gallo, etc do. They may even offer their own credit cards. The issue there is that, as in the electronic stores, there will be a line of people who bought more than they can afford waiting to pay their biweekly credit payments where some obscene amount of interest is charged which does not result in more savings or more goods for the individual. And where do the profits go?

   Do you know the owner (even who they are, where they live, what they’re like?)
   of Pali or Mas X Menos, or Maxi Bodega? I don’t. I know that Sam Walton from Arkansas started Walmart, which is now the largest corporation in the world. I don’t know anything about the man or where the profit goes. I do know a bit about the various owners of the locally owned grocers, restaurants, shops, tour operators, hotels and I would rather pay a bit more for their product, knowing that the profit goes to them and remains in the community than buy cheap goods from someone I don’t know and have zero idea about where the profit goes.

10. mike on November 15, 2009 6:14 pm

    Great post Brendan, thanks.

11. mike on November 16, 2009 8:11 am

    Manuel, you are absolutely correct on that score.

    you can bet Mickey D’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and sundry other big franchise corps are already doing their demographic/marketing research, just as they did on the Pacific