New in the Neighborhood

On my previous trip to Mexico, Alejandro and I noticed that the Sanborns Restaurant at the World Trade Center had closed.  A couple days ago as I was walking around the neighborhood, I saw that it had been replaced by a Chedraui Supermarket.  This one is strictly a supermarket... most of the Chedraui stores also sell clothing, home goods and electronics.  It is also a "Chedraui Selecto", a more upscale version that has a larger selection of wines and liquors as well as imported gourmet items.  

When I am at the apartment, I usually do my grocery shopping at the Superama (which has changed its name to Walmart Express) just down the street.  However, when I am at Alejandro's house, we shop at Chedraui.  I like Chedraui better, and I prefer patronizing a Mexican-owned business instead of the monster multinational corporation that is Walmart.  So, I was excited to see this new store close to me.

I went inside to take a look.  It is much smaller than most of the Chedraui stores, but it also felt more spacious than the Walmart Express with its cramped aisles.  Even though the Walmart Express was recently renovated it still looks rather dreary compared to this new Chedraui.

Unfortunately, I will still have to do some of my grocery shopping at Walmart Express.  There are number of items that I regularly buy (for example canned garbanzos that I always add to salads) that I did not find at the Chedraui.  However, Chedraui's produce section looked better.  I will probably buy my avocados there.  The ones at Walmart Express are either hard and days away from ripeness, or they are so soft that they are probably half-rotten. 

The new store has already received some bad reviews on Google Maps.  Some people have complained about the prices and the fact that you cannot take your shopping cart down to the basement parking lot of the World Trade Center.  (That last complaint is certainly valid, but it doesn't affect me since I walk to the supermarket with my reusable shopping bags.)

Anyway, it is nice to have another option for grocery shopping close to my apartment.