October 15, 2011

Paved paradise?

This will be a shocker to those who've been away from the island since last high season. Watching it develop over the last weeks has me wishing I'd taken photos daily, because it has moved along so quickly that a slide show would be like watching a movie. Workers 24/7.
Chedraui is building what zoning commissions in the US call a big box store. This one boxy and a couple stories plus under roof parking.
It will make most of the trips to shop in Cancun unnecessary. It also threatens to force many of the mom and pop tiendas into closure with its lower pricing to Mexican liking and variety and imported food labels from the US.
It will inevitably bring amazing traffic jams to the middle of the island, right across from the baseball and soccer fields, so busy on weekends as it is. A traffic light or a 24 hour transit cop is inevitable.
Chedraui will open its superstore on Isla Mujeres in December. Conventional wisdom has it happening in time to buy Christmas and New Years turkeys and hams and yams and sparkling cider.
In addition to the neighborhood mini supers, it is questionable that the island would be willing to support two SuperXpresses owned by the San Francisco supermarket chain. And the one nearest to me, that doesn't have an ATM and a good assortment of vegetables, can just go away. No one will mind after the Chedraui opens. I am sure.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow - that is a game changer in many ways...