In this third part of the series we explore the need to develop negotiating and bargaining skills, for use everyday.

Negotiation, trade, and bargaining are woven into the fabric of Mexican culture. In 1520, Hernán Cortés wrote to Emperor Carlos V of Spain describing Tenochtitlán as a city with “many plazas, where there are continuous markets and dealings in buying and selling”. These and other records show how Mexicans have been avid traders for many centuries.

Five hundred years later, whether you’re buying a piece of land, a home, a car, or a kilo of limes at the local market, you will need to exercise some negotiation skills, lest you may pay more, and possibly a lot more, than you need have.

How you negotiate (or bargain) will depend upon the precise situation you find yourself in. In most circumstances effective negotiation will require the use of Spanish —a notable exception being real estate purchases— so a basic conversational level of the language, as described in the first article of this series, is a prerequisite.

There are some places and situations where bargaining is not practiced in Mexico. These include the local supermarkets, department stores, and gasoline stations. Bargaining is not generally practiced at tienditas (family-run corner stores) and it’s not practiced at pharmacies.

Restaurants and comedores don’t usually bargain, either; although they might agree to a large group discount or special offer if you talk with the manager or owner before your intended arrival.

Situations where bargaining is practiced (and sometimes expected) include shopping in open-air food markets, flea markets, art and craft markets and fairs; and buying from ambulant vendors on the street and on public transport.

If you board a local taxi cab that isn’t metered or doesn’t charge a zonal fee, you should always negotiate your price beforehand. Many people are now using App Cabs which offer fixed pricing for fares in advance of the journey.

More formal situations where price negotiations are often entered into include the purchase of a vehicle (new or used), the purchase of jewelry or very fine clothing from a specialist suppliers, the bulk purchase of almost anything from a trade supplier, hand-made furniture bought locally, as well as land and property—whether for purchase or to rent.

When you have lived in Mexico for a while —and especially when you have lived in one place in Mexico for a while— you’ll notice that the prices asked for many local things you buy every day can be very elastic indeed. There are prices for ‘locals’ and prices for ‘tourists’—whether the tourists are foreign or Mexican.

Traders everywhere are alert to an opportunity. They will always try to make hay while the sun shines. With some experience of living in a place, you’ll learn what prices should be for things like a taxi cab ride, a kilo of meat or fish, a bagful of oranges, a hat or walking stick, a stack of fresh corn tortillas, and so on.

How? You start talking with people locally, you hear and see what others are being offered and gradually you get to know. Eventually, you might become sufficiently experienced and not have to ask the price for something you buy regularly; —for example, the fee for a local cab ride to a regular destination— you know what it should be and hand over that amount of money.

The acid test is to hand over a coin or bank note that requires some change in return and see how much comes back. In fact, this level of local economic intimacy is a gauge for you—the more you buy without the need to ‘negotiate’ the price, the deeper you have become entwined in, and part of, the local community.

Resources for bargaining and negotiating

Learn more about Mexican culture and traditions, including about negotiating, bargaining and shopping in Mexico:

• Guide to social etiquette and local customs
• Latest articles about Mexican culture and local customs
• Learn about tipping culture in Mexico
• Discover Markets & Shopping in Mexico

A perch for the shoe shine ritual

There exist various types of shoe shine kiosks, although the most common are larger fixtures featuring a canvas roof, an upholstered seat and metal foot-rests.

The seat is set up above the stand requiring a small climb to settle into, and due to this prominence customers need to cast-off any inhibitions they might harbor being perched for passers-by to see while their footwear is duly tended.

The people serving customers at these stands are almost always men —you might very occasionally see a woman— who tend their pitch day-in, day-out, six days a week.  If you live in Mexico, you’ll come to recognize them as regular constituents of your local neighborhood.

The customers who use this service are most often men, too.  Mexican women don’t, as a rule, patronize these purveyors of footwear maintenance. From time-to-time you might see female foreign tourists using them, usually younger women who also combine the novelty with a ‘selfie’ photo opportunity, swiftly followed by an instant upload to their social media feed.

The ritualistic shoe wash and shine

Just below the footrests, the attendant’s tools and materials box stores an assortment of brushes as well as pots and other vessels storing an ample selection of paints, waxes, and the shoe shiner’s detergent of choice—a tub of pumpkin soap, jabón de calabaza. Every ritual begins with a shoe wash, which is undertaken using this mild and natural detergent ideal for cleaning any type of footwear.

With the street dust dispatched, the attendant embarks upon a carefully orchestrated sequence of waxing, painting, and polishing routines which conclude with a brisk brush-over and the final touch for shine—a leather chamois drawn tightly and snapped around each shoe.

The entire ritual takes only a few minutes and the precise fee is discretionary, although $30-$50 pesos —perhaps depending on how well-heeled you’re feeling— would be considered reasonable.

Calling and data roaming from your Mexican cellphone across North America

The Mexican cellular telephone market has undergone major reforms too, and you can now elect to buy a plan that, for a modest monthly fee, gives unlimited calling and SMS messages to all phones across Mexico, the United States, and Canada—and you can also use the mobile data included in your plan across all three countries without any data roaming costs.  These “unlimited” deals are also available on pay-as-you-go monthly plans: there is no need to sign a long term contract.

Month-to-month plans without a contract

By way of example: AT&T, Telcel, Movistar and Virgin Mobile currently offer a month-to-month plans (no contract) for MXN$200 pesos (~US$10) that includes unlimited call minutes and SMS messages across North America (Mexico, the US and Canada), and at least 3 GB of mobile data.  Unlimited use of data across some popular social media platforms is also included in these plans. Offers are continuously changing, so it’s best to visit the websites (use links above) of the mobile operators to learn about the latest offers.

Pre-pay Plans typically last for 30 days and can be renewed or not, as you wish: automatic renewal can optionally be set-up by linking a credit card to your account, or you can renew manually at the end of each 30-day billing period—paying online using a bank card, paying in cash at local stores in Mexico, or via a bank app if you have a Mexican bank account and use its online banking service.

If you don’t renew the plan, your tariff reverts to a peso-per-minute (or per-MB for data) rate.  If you use up all your data quota before the 30 days passes, you can pay-per-MB until the plan’s renewal date, or re-initiate your plan for an additional 30 days starting on the (earlier) date of the renewal.

Note that if you leave your account dormant for an extended period without renewing a plan or putting ad-hoc credit on your phone, the SIM card might be deactivated and you’ll lose the number that’s associated with it.

Annual contracts available if you want one

If you prefer a cellphone contract, you can sign-up for a year or more and get a plan that includes a phone, unlimited minutes, and set amounts of data each month (depending on the contract).  Plans that include a ‘free’ phone in the contract will tether (lock) the phone to the network operator you have a contract with.

If you have your own (unlocked) smartphone, contract plans exists that cost less per month and only include phone calls, SMS messages, and data.  Your phone will not be tethered to the network with these plans.

It’s never been less expensive to keep in touch from Mexico and across the US and Canada

When lower residential phone line tariffs came into force at beginning of 2015, many people didn’t believe it was true until they started getting their first phone bills that year and saw that calls to Mexican cell phone and long distance calls across the country —and the world— were being charged at zero rates, all included in the monthly plan, which also includes fixed-line high-speed internet.

Now with the Mexican cellular market offering great deals on no-contract “pay-as-you-go” plans, Mexico is one of the least expensive countries in the world to own and use a mobile phone: staying in touch with friends, family, and business contacts on the move in Mexico and when roaming with a Mexican cell phone in the United States and Canada has never been easier and less expensive than it is today.

Learn more about keeping in touch in Mexico

Our guides and articles about communications help you keep in touch when you’re in Mexico: by phone, by internet and by post/courier.

• The cost of communications services in Mexico
• Learn about internet services in Mexico
• Wireless high speed internet at home via mobile and satellite
• How to dial numbers to, from and within Mexico

Signing for card purchases began to get replaced by ‘Chip & PIN’ cards in the early 2000s, but it was not until around 2015 that this technology —entering a PIN number instead of signing a slip of paper— became more commonplace in Mexico.

Contactless payment systems

Around the same time that ‘Chip & PIN’ became commonplace in Mexico and the US, debit and credit cards also began to feature a ‘contactless chip’ inside them, enabling cardholders to make smaller payments (usually less than US$50 worth) without the need to insert the card into a machine and enter the PIN number.

In 2014, Apple launched its Apple Pay service, and Google followed suit a year later with Android Pay.  These smartphone-based payment systems allow users to add one or more of their existing bank card details to an ‘electronic wallet’ on the device and use their smartphone to make and authorize contactless payments—without the small-purchase restrictions imposed by the ‘contactless payment’ system embedded on a physical bank card.

The adoption of the two principal smartphone-based contactless payment systems has been gradual as the technology depends on users having newer phones that can make electronic payments as well as stores adopting new terminals that can interface with the smartphones.

Apple Pay and Android Pay in Mexico

From around 2022, new payment terminals started appearing in stores and restaurants across Mexico that could take payment from physical bank cards with a ‘contactless payment’ chip inside them (for small purchases only), and which are also capable of accepting payment via smartphones using Apple Pay and Android Pay.

Payments using Apple Pay and Android Pay are as or even more secure than using a physical card—people are less likely to misplace their smartphone, and the card details are never revealed to the merchant so cannot be stolen or ‘skimmed’ as may happen when you present a physical bank card. The signal between the smartphone and the payment terminal is secure and you must use your fingerprint or face ID via the smartphone to authorize the payment.

Payments you make are transacted through existing bank card(s) you have that get added to your smartphone’s “wallet.”  Apple and Google do not replace your bank or credit card company; instead their devices act at a payment gateway. You can add credit and debit cards to your smartphone’s wallet, and the process to do this is straightforward.

Payment at stores in Mexico using your smartphone

Lots of stores, supermarkets, and restaurants across Mexico have already upgraded their payment terminals and now actively accept payment via your smartphone set up with Apple Pay or Android Pay (aka Google Pay).  Even some bus companies now accept payment for tickets this way when you buy at the bus terminal.

Getting cash from ATMs using your smartphone

The next likely step for this technology is for smartphones to facilitate cash withdrawals from ATMs instead of using a physical bank card. This is already possible today in some countries, but Mexico’s banks have not launched this service at their ATMs yet. If you intend to withdraw cash from an ATM in Mexico, you must still use your physical debit or credit card to do that.

Learn about managing your money in Mexico

Mexperience offers you a wealth of information about Mexico’s money, banking services, and banknotes.

• Learn more about managing your money in Mexico
• Articles about Mexico’s banknotes
• Latest articles about the Mexican peso
• Latest articles about Money and finance in Mexico

The information published in this article is provided for general information in good faith and is not intended as personal, legal, financial or investment advice.

Product availability can vary

One of the quirky features of the Mexican retail space is the inconsistent availability of certain products, and this especially pertinent to imported food and drinks.

You might wander along the aisles of your local supermarket or membership store one day and discover, for the first time, a brand or product you enjoyed back home.  You might also grimace at the price tag, and buy it anyway.  When you go back to buy it again next month, it’s not there—and later realize that it never returns.

This ‘batch availability’ of imported foods is surprisingly common in Mexico, which is why seasoned foreign residents might purchase more than one in expectation of it not being available again—and consider the item as a treat. This can apply to anything: your favorite brand of peanut butter, a certain variety of chocolate bar, a gourmet food ingredient, and especially varieties of teas.

Specialist food and homeware stores in Mexico

Here is a list of stores in Mexico where you are most likely to find those goods and goodies you enjoyed buying in the USA, Canada, or Europe and of the kind you certainly won’t find at your local tiendita.

La Comer and Fresko

When Commercial Mexicana sold-off its supermarket chain to Soriana, it kept some of the larger stores and re-branded them to “La Comer.”  These larger ‘hypermarkets’ offer food, drink, and a range of homeware products under one roof.  The grocery aisles feature a ‘gourmet and imported goods’ section which displays an array of fancy and specialist foods and drinks—a ‘lite’ version of its City Market outlets, see below.  La Comer has a sister-store named Fresko that offers virtually the same lines of products as La Comer in smaller stores and with a particular focus on fresh produce.

City Market

Owned by La Comer, City Market is a chic and up-scale gourmet purveyor of all things foodie and homestyle and is Mexico’s answer to Whole Foods in the US, or Waitrose in the UK.  City Market stores also feature a café, a fresh sushi bar, and a gourmet ice-cream parlor.

Their stores are situated in Mexico City’s more exclusive neighborhoods and the company is gradually expanding this retail format into the provinces. Outside of the capital there are City Market stores located in Querétaro, Metepec, Cuernavaca, Guadalajara, San Miguel de Allende, and Monterrey.

In addition to the extensive ranges of gourmet and exotic foods available here, City Market also offers a ‘Spa’ section which further entices shoppers with fine soaps, bath salts and towels, as well as a range of aromatherapy products.

This is not somewhere you go looking for bargains, although the stocked ranges of specialist and imported foods and food ingredients as well as its selection of fine wines and imported liquors is substantial.

La Europea

As the name suggests, La Europea is a specialist purveyor of imported goods offers a comprehensive choice of imported wines, liquors, and gourmet food products.

Established since 1957, the chain has moved with the times to offer an expanding range of products across its stores.  La Europea has branches in many key cities across Mexico, and while you’ll often find things here not available elsewhere (except perhaps at the few branches of City Market), like City Market, it’s best not to cavil about the prices.

Williams Sonoma

If you enjoy home cooking and all things kitchen, you’ll be pleased to learn that Williams-Sonoma, the American purveyor of high-end kitchen tools and cookware popular in the US, has opened stores in Mexico.

They offer in-store and online shopping, with free delivery and returns within 30 days.  Their price tags are generally high, although they often run discount sales, some of which are significant and make their prices competitive with other online sellers. This store is ideal when you’re looking for a special gift, or ranges of specialized kitchenware of the kind you’re unlikely to find in other department stores.

HEB Mexico

The Texas-based HEB superstore stocks an ample range of American goods.  HEB Mexico stores are principally based in the country’s north-eastern states, as well as Guanajuato and Aguascalientes, although they continue to expand and, if there’s an HEB locally where you live, you will be able to find an extensive range of imported food and homeware products here, including well-stocked fresh produce sections.

CostCo and Sam’s Club

CostCo and Sam’s Club are “Members Only” emporiums that require you to purchase an annual membership to spend your money at them.  However, they do offer a wide choice of imported foods, drinks, and homeware goods, and through direct discounts or points that you accumulate as you buy (and later trade for other goods in-store), your annual membership may be returned when your shop here.  Many foreign residents hold membership cards to one or both stores which are situated in towns and cities across Mexico.

The Home Store

A specialist homeware and lifestyle department store with branches in Mexico City as well as some of Mexico’s larger cities, The Home Store offers an impressive range of homeware items across various departments including bedroom, kitchen, dining room, and utility areas; it also offers ranges of complementary homeware products like interior décor, wellness, and home-style accessories.

Pottery Barn

This San Francisco-based upscale home furnishing and lifestyle accessories store has been operating in Mexico for a few years, with shops situated in some of Mexico City’s chic malls as well as a store operating in the city of León in the state of Guanajuato.  Pottery Barn also has sister stores in Mexico which stock its archetypal furnishings and accessories aimed at kids and teens.

The ‘big three’ department stores

Liverpool, Palacio de Hierro, and Sears—Mexico’s three biggest department stores are also among Mexico’s biggest importers, and foreign residents often repair to one of these establishments to find products they want or need which they cannot find elsewhere.  These department stores stock imported brands of fine foods, considerable ranges of homewares and furnishings, a wide assortment of domestic appliances, and clothes among many other things—and local prices vary from reasonable to cheeky in relation to prices for the same products sold in the USA.

Amazon Mexico

Products you seek might be available through Amazon Mexico. Not everything that’s available in the USA, for example, will be available through Amazon Mexico, but the company is expanding its Mexican operations appreciably to offer ever-wider ranges of imported products on offer direct from Amazon’s warehouses in Mexico.

Items available only from Amazon abroad might not ship to Mexico and where they do, delivered prices are likely to be higher in part due to import duties, Mexico’s sales tax rate, and shipping costs—all of which add to the price of any items you order online which are delivered from outside Mexico.

If you subscribe to Amazon’s Mexico Prime Membership plan, you can obtain free delivery on a range of products (not all) shipped from Mexico as well as some shipped from the USA. (If you have an Amazon Prime subscription from overseas, it does not qualify you for free shipping to/in Mexico; you have to buy an Amazon Prime Mexico subscription.)

The cost of living in Mexico

The Mexperience Mexico Cost of Living Guide offers a comprehensive resource to help you to create a detailed budget for your finances in Mexico, based on your individual circumstances and lifestyle plans.

A snapshot of Mexican coffee production

Mexican coffee production is widespread, with more than 300,000 mostly small growers dedicated to its cultivation across 15 of Mexico’s 32 states, and despite the country being the 10th largest coffee producer in the world, the crop makes up only a small fraction of the country’s agricultural output.

Most of the coffee grown in Mexico is of the arabica kind, and more than a third is grown at high elevation which yields the higher quality, and more expensive, varieties of beans.  Much of it is grown in the shade, which adds to the quality of the coffee.

Quality and yield improving after ‘leaf rust’ blight

Coffee yields have recovered in recent years after a blight of ‘leaf rust’ devastated crops and caused production to fall by half between 2012 and 2016.  However, as the recovery emerges, regions most affected by the blight appear now to be producing some exceptional coffee beans with improving yields. In the 2019-2020 season, producers harvested about 3.7 million 60-kilogram (132 pound) bags, and that is forecast to increase to 3.9 million bags in the 2020-2021 season.  Although less acreage is expected to be planted, efforts have been made to increase the number of plants per hectare and to plant with more disease resistant trees.

Mexico’s coffee-growing regions

Mexico has four principal growing regions, and the coffees that emanate from each one carry distinct flavors and aromas, influenced by the local terrain, rich volcanic soils, the climate, and elevation.

Chiapas: distinct, highly sought-after coffee

Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas is the country’s biggest coffee producer, accounting for more than 40% of the annual crop.  The high rainfall in this region keeps the volcanic soils moist which is ideal for coffee growers.  The best arabica coffees from Chiapas carry a smooth, medium-bodied taste, with bright yet moderated acidity, and hints of cacao.  The aroma from these coffees is strong, often chocolatey, but they tend to be smooth and creamy on the palate and often have hints of a caramel-like sweetness to them.  Some coffee connoisseurs consider Chiapas’s coffee to be the among the best of all Mexican coffees.

Veracruz: dark and bold volcanic influences

The state of Veracruz situated along the shores of Mexico’s Gulf coast produces about a quarter of the country’s coffee. Veracruz’s topography climbs steeply from the coastal plains into an elevated mountainous terrain that provides ideal growing conditions for arabica coffee beans.  The coffee from this region is known for its distinct combination of being smooth and full-bodied, with a balanced acidity that carries undertones of nut and chocolate in its flavors.  The nutrient-rich, dark volcanic soils of this region imbue their influence into the taste of this region’s coffee.

Oaxaca: noticeably milder, and refreshing

Mexico’s state of Oaxaca, bordering Chiapas on the south side, Veracruz to the east, Puebla on north side, and descending from its central highlands to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in the west is also a terrain permeated with volcanic nutrients and plenty of moisture.  The Pluma region is the most renowned for coffee growing in Oaxaca, and beans here are grown at lower elevations that produces a range of distinct flavors.  Milder than most other Mexican coffees, Oaxacan beans carry a sweeter caramel overtone, a light citrus acidity that gives them a refreshing taste, a creamy body and, like many Mexican coffees, they also carry base notes of cacao.

Puebla: the dark horse of Mexico’s coffee regions

The Sierra Norte region in the state of Puebla, southeast of Mexico City, produces around 15% of the country’s coffee.  This highland region is the least well-known of Mexico’s coffee growing regions and coffees produced here are strongly influenced by the elevation and diversity of nutrients from this terrain that is watched over by Popocatepetl, Mexico’s most famous —and active— volcano.  The beans harvested from this region create a complex coffee flavor that includes notes of vanilla, citrus, nutmeg, and cacao.

Imported coffees continue to thrive in Mexico

Notwithstanding the wide availability of fine home-grown coffees, around half of the coffee consumed in Mexico is imported.

This is partly because Mexican producers focus on growing the finer quality arabica varieties, instead of the lower grade robusta beans employed for making the instant coffee that remains popular here, and is likely also driven by demand for specialty beans and brands among coffee drinkers in Mexico’s urban areas who can afford to be choosy.

Imported coffee brands, which include erstwhile names like Lavazza and Illy, elaborated using arabica beans —whether from Colombia, Costa Rica or even parts of Africa— are invariably more expensive than similar quality Mexican coffee.  A touch of malinchismo might be at play, or simply a yen for variety.

Books’ row in Mexico City

In the south of Mexico City, where Miguel Angel de Quevedo avenue crosses Avenida Universidad —about five minutes from the Bohemian hangout of Coyoacán— is a mini paradise for bookworms.

Three major bookstores, Gandhi, El Sotano, and Fondo de Cultura Economica, and a dozen or so smaller ones, line both sides of the street. Outside are wooden trays with books at throw-away prices, and inside you’ll find special offers on those less likely to be thrown away.

Mexico City remains the place where the widest selection of books and bookshops can be found, and some well-known chains have most of their branches in the capital.

Bookshops are still popular in Mexico

But while in many developed countries bookshops have been closing, Mexican chains have been opening new stores. Like bookshops everywhere, they have also added small gifts, toys, games & puzzles, and other paraphernalia to their offerings to make the business work.  This may annoy some purists, but somehow it’s hard to get worked up about a model that means the book business can continue going.

• Cafebrería El Péndulo —coffee shop-bookstore— boasts several branches in Mexico City, including in trendy neighborhoods such as Polanco, Condesa, Roma, and San Ángel.
• Librerías Gandhi has expanded with new stores in Mexico City, and also has branches in 24 of Mexico’s 32 states.
• El Sótano and Casa del Libro have more than a dozen branches.
• Gonvill Librerías is the biggest chain in Guadalajara, Mexico’s third most populated city and which is also host to a major international book fair each year.

These chains tend to stock the best selection of books, often beyond the capacity of the shelves so that many are neatly piled up.  You can find most books in Spanish at these stores.

And while many, especially Gandhi and El Péndulo, have one or two shelves of books in English and French, here it tends to be hit and miss.  You might find occasional books of interest, but you are less likely to find a specific title. (For some you can check availability online.)

Buying eBooks in Mexico

Since eBooks are virtually borderless, there are as many options in Mexico as anywhere else.

Amazon’s Mexico shop sells Kindles, and you can usually find almost any book published in English or Spanish in the local Kindle store.  Apple Books are an option for those who use Apple devices —iPhone or iPad— although they don’t have a dedicated eReader like the Kindle.

There’s no accounting for taste, and online reviews show some people are impressed with the Apple Books app, others not so much. For those using Android, Google Books is an option, and again, it has the disadvantage of not having a dedicated eReader.

In Mexico, the Gandhi and Porrúa book chains have an agreement with Kobo Books and sell Kobo eReaders, which are popular in Canada and parts of Europe like France and Italy. (The Canadian digital bookseller Kobo was acquired by Japan’s Rakuten Group in 2012, so the app says Rakuten Kobo, although people still widely refer to Kobo books).

Both Gandhi and Porrúa sell eBooks on their own websites, which can be downloaded onto the Kobo reader or using the Kobo app installed on devices, and you can also download eBooks directly from the Kobo website.

Depending on how budget conscious the reader is, it can be advantageous to keep open several options, as sometimes a title will be available on one platform and not another, or cheaper on one than another.

The Kindle, Kobo, and Google Books apps are available on Apple and Android, but the Apple Books app isn’t available on Android.

Finding books not published in Spanish

When you are looking for a particular physical copy of a book not published in Spanish —such as a new release— the options are to stock-up on a trip abroad, or order it from a book seller online—most of which will ship books to Mexico with no problems, but not necessarily that quickly. If you want a particular book right now, eBooks are the way to go.

Mexico’s department stores and big box stores have book sections, but these vary widely in selection and quality. There are about 150 Sanborns stores with magazine sections offering international titles published in English, but not much in the way of books published in English beyond current best-sellers.

Fancy browsing

Even the most bourgeois of us like to dig around for books in a bohemian atmosphere, and for that there are plenty of elegant bookshops—although that isn’t where most Mexicans go to buy reading material.

The stores, however, are rather unique.  They sell books, magazines, cakes, toys, tobacco, gifts of all kinds (watches, pens, backgammon sets, even telescopes…), some clothing, confectionery, music, electronic goods, jewelry, and pharmaceuticals.

Sanborns is owned by Carlos Slim, the telecoms magnate who bought the chain from the US drugstore chain Walgreens in 1985.  But the original business was set up by the American brothers Frank and Walter Sanborn early in the 20th century; first as a drugstore, to which later a soda fountain was added.

The concept became so popular that dictator Porfirio Díaz used to stop-by at one of the Sanborns soda fountains.  Revolutionaries Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa took refreshments at Sanborns when they marched into the capital over a century ago.

Walter Sanborn returned to California, tired of the political turmoil in Mexico at the time, while Frank and his two sons —represented by the three owls on the Sanborns logo— continued to run the business until 1946, when they sold it to Walgreens.

If asked about a bookstore in Mexico, you’d be more likely to think Gandhi, Porrúa, or Casa del Libro.  If a drugstore, Farmacias del Ahorro or even Dr. Simi if you’re into generics.  El Globo springs to mind when cakes are needed, and one of the big three department stores (Liverpool, Palacio de Hierro, Sears) might be where you’d go if shopping for a gift. But if you don’t really know what you want, or just feel like browsing before or after lunch, you might well end up at Sanborns.

Eclectic might be the best way to describe Sanborns, which just about everyone in Mexico has heard of, and most urbanites visit at one time or another.  Most states and virtually all the main cities have at least one —and some several— Sanborns stores.  The list of stores can be found online.

Many of the stores (there are about 170 and several dozen stand-alone Sanborns Café coffee shops) are located in shopping malls or at commercial plazas, although a number of them are situated inside elegant buildings in historic districts of Mexico’s more picturesque cities.  A prime example of this is the Casa de Los Azulejos on Madero Ave. in downtown Mexico City.  The building houses one of the original Sanborns stores and a large restaurant which operates on several floors.

Sanborns is well-known locally for its generously-stocked magazine stands, which carry a wide selection of contemporary titles published in Spanish and English. These stands are also used by some people as a meeting point, helpful in a country where punctuality isn’t exactly a national trait.  The store also stocks a wide range of books, including the 10 top U.S. best-sellers of the moment, and a selection of greetings cards—the sending of which isn’t a particular habit in Mexico.

Mexicans tend to have mixed feelings about Sanborns, a store that is an established institution of the Mexican retail terrain and which at the same time market commentators say is struggling to convey a clear identity in today’s rapidly-changing retail landscape.

Most of the existing stores have undergone a re-fit in recent years; the new decor  clearly aims to retain some of the old-world charm while bringing forth a brighter, and more contemporary, feel.  Regardless of individual predilections, Sanborns remains an emblematic brand in Mexico.

Two decades have nearly passed since Mexico enacted a new law to crack down on the use of tobacco, securing smoke-free public spaces and buildings everywhere, and generating widespread awareness among smokers of the rights of non-smokers to be free from the toxic clouds exhaled by the users of the stuff when shopping, eating out, or waiting for a bus.

What it hasn’t achieved is to cut down on the number of smokers in the country, according to some reports.  Whether that’s because not enough has been done to discourage smoking, or because people who smoke don’t really care to quit, is anybody’s guess.

Props to help those who do want to give up —including nicotine patches, nicotine gum, lozenges, etc.— disappeared from drugstores across the country a while ago, although a form of nicotine lozenges have been making a comeback.

Imports of electronic cigarettes (vaping devices) have been outlawed by presidential decree, citing World Health Organization data concerning the practice. Notices have since have been posted in customs halls and some travelers are having vaping products confiscated when their personal items are examined.

The ban on the —highly profitable, by the way— sale of loose cigarettes has been widely ignored.  These are still openly available on thousands of street stalls, at markets, outside Metro stations, at traffic lights.  In some districts where health inspectors have shown up to admonish vendors in breach of the ban, the sale stopped for a while and then resumed surreptitiously among trusted customers. But if the prohibition was aimed at keeping cigarettes out of the hands of minors, it could be said to have worked.  At least you’d be hard pressed to find vendors selling tobacco to the under-aged, and this is true of local shops as well.

Investing in a good hammock

There is some debate about where and how hammocks came into being, although it seems likely that hammocks arrived in Mexico from the Caribbean, long before the Spanish landed on the shores of present-day Veracruz.

Mexican hammocks are woven in a variety of colors and patterns, although not all hammocks are created equal: there are certain features which need to be considered closely if you are going to procure a hammock that will last you and be comfortable to lie in.

The wide-weave nylon hammocks will be the least expensive, possibly around $300-$500 pesos; cotton and other natural fibers (where available) with a tight weave will be more expensive, starting from $800-$1,000 pesos or more.

Tips to help you buy your Mexican hammock

When you invest in a decent hammock, you’ll take home a hanging bed that will be a real pleasure to use, and provide years of restful service. Generally speaking, the higher the price, the better the quality—although as with all trades in Mexico, price is subject to negotiation.

Here are some tips to help as you choose a hammock to invest in:

Choosing your material

Hammocks are woven in a variety of materials, but only nylon and cotton are widely available. Other traditional materials that may be used for hammock-making include hemp and sansevieria.

Nylon hammocks are the least comfortable, especially in the heat, but if you live in a damp climate they will be the longest-wearing; the key then is to ensure you buy a closely-woven nylon hammock (see weave, below).

Cotton is the most comfortable material that is widely available, and if you really want a hammock made from a natural fiber like sanseveria, you’ll likely have to order it locally: check online for traders and options—some shops might ship their products to you if you can’t attend the store locally.

Check the weave and the thickness of the material

Most hammocks are twisted and folded when they are hung on display for sale.  It’s essential when considering a purchase to take the hammock down, untwist it, and stretch the material out to check the weave.

Cheaper hammocks have a wide weave and are made from thinner threads.  Whichever material you choose, if you choose a wide weave, the hammock will not be comfortable for anything other than brief periods of rest.

When you compare hammocks, choose the one with the tightest weave for the most comfort: the “gaps” between the fibers should be narrow.  A tightly-woven hammock will provide excellent body support and enable you to rest for hours on your hanging bed.

Check the workmanship

Check the ends of the weaves; ensure that the fibers are woven well, and that the ends are elegantly finished without any loose ends or strands hanging out.  Ensure that the materials are in good condition and not worn, damaged, or frayed.

Choose your merchant

Good quality hammocks are available for purchase across Mexico, although if you’re determined to get something quite special, you’ll need to visit a specialist hammock merchant in Mérida or purchase online.

Some online purchase options

• General search for hammocks on Google
• Hammocks advertised on Amazon Mexico
• Hammocks advertised on Mercado Libre

Ambulant vendors

You might come across ambulant vendors offering hammocks for sale, but be sure to check the material used as well as the weave and thickness of the threads especially as ambulant vendors tend to carry the cheaper versions instead of the more expensive varieties, although some vendors do offer the higher quality and more expensive ones too.

Veritable armies of vendedores ambulantes make up a fairly large part of what is known as Mexico’s “informal economy.” Chambers of commerce don’t like them, because they get in the way of established business, while the government is somewhat in two minds.

It might be a nuisance, but this informal commerce provides work and keeps the unemployment rate from reaching what would otherwise be uncomfortable levels. Every few years or so, the city government takes some measures to alleviate the problem —mostly through programs to relocate the vendors to established market spaces— but the vendors always come back, like a relentless tide.

This informal commerce is extremely adaptable: at the first drop of rain, umbrellas appear on sale as you leave the Metro; at the first cold snap of winter, coats, gloves and scarves; agendas and calendars in January; flags and banners before Independence Day.

“This city has many plazas, where there are continuous markets and dealings in buying and selling. It has another plaza twice the size of the city of Salamanca, walled around with great porches, where daily there are more than sixty thousand souls buying and selling; where there is every kind of merchandise that can be found in any land.”

This description might not sound strange to the modern-day visitor who takes a stroll downtown in the country’s capital. The letter, written in October 1520 by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés to Emperor Carlos V, dedicates the next several pages to describing the goods —those he could remember— on sale in Tenochtitlán, as the city was then called. Summarized for blogs, there was “everything from food and jewelry, to live animals, herbal medicine and earthenware.”

The point is, perhaps, that it will take more than a desire for modernity to do away with five hundred years of tradition.

Supermarkets aren’t the only shop in town

In places like the US and the UK, supermarkets have steadily lured custom away from local stores by offering customers enormous ranges of goods including comestibles, homewares, hardware, and pharmaceuticals conveniently gathered in one place.  The result has been that many of the local ‘mom and pop’ stores have closed down and vanished from the trading landscape.

In Mexico, this has not come to pass.

It’s still possible and practicable to shop for your food locally in Mexico, often a short walk from your home, at convenience stores and open-air markets which provide an abundance of fresh foods delivered to the stores early each morning, or produced daily on the premises.  In recent years, there has also been a proliferation of local ‘organic markets,’ in certain towns and cities.

At these familiar centers of trade, you can get to know the local store or stall owners, talk with the butcher about which cuts are best for a meal you want to prepare, choose seasonable fruit and vegetables from ripe selections, wrap warm corn tortillas into a cloth cover almost straight from the oven or griddle that produces them, and buy delicious and tasty bolillo bread rolls which are baked continuously throughout the day.

Local independent stores you’ll still find in Mexico

The choice of local, specialized, food stores in Mexico’s cities, towns and villages is ample and inviting. Store names you’ll see regularly include:

• Frutas y Legumbres — the local greengrocer selling fresh fruits,  vegetables, herbs and spices;
• Polleria — offering fresh chicken, they also sell eggs and condiments to compliment chicken dishes;
• Rosticeria — roast chickens from a spit; they also sell sauces and other condiments to complement a roast chicken meal;
• Carniceria — butcher, selling a variety of meat, and offering advice on different cuts;
• Tortilleria — selling freshly pressed, warm tortillas, straight off the machine that makes them, and in some places they are hard-pressed and cooked on a hot plate;
• Salchichoneria — delicatessen; selling a range of hams, cold cuts, cheeses, hors d’oeuvres, and other cured meats;
• Panaderia — locally bakery, selling fresh sweet and savory breads;
• Pescaderia — fish mongers; these are more often seen at coastal locations.

Ambulant street vendors add choices

In addition to the established local stores and open-air markets, you will often see ambulant traders parked on the street selling fresh seasonal produce. These traders most often sell fruit or veg that is currently in abundance due to a glut harvest —examples include mandarins, oranges, pineapples, or mangoes— straight out of the back of a truck, or perhaps off a barrow or folding table which they set-up for the day.  It’s an ideal way to buy fresh seasonal produce at the lowest prices.

While millions of people will continue to shop at their local super and hypermarkets every week, there also continues to be a strong demand in Mexico for fresh foods and other essential everyday items purveyed by local stores and traders.

These local shops, open-air markets, and street traders continue to thrive in Mexico; in good part, because they are conveniently located close to local neighborhoods often in walking distance to your home, and they’re regularly  supported by local people who who value their presence in the local community.

More insights about shopping in Mexico

You can find more information about shops and shopping in Mexico including Buying Food in Mexico, Local Stores in Mexico and Local Markets in Mexico, here on Mexperience.