Lingering in Polanco

After my short visit to the "Instituto Nacional de Migración" in Polanco last week, I decided to check out the large shopping mall right across the street.  Plaza Antara was opened in 2006 on the site of a demolished General Motors Factory.  It has over 100 stores on three levels.  The architecture is interesting.  An open-air walkway forms a curve with stores on either side.

The mall has many of the stores that you see at most shopping plazas in Mexico City, but there are also some exclusive shops that you usually don't see.  This is after all, Polanco, the Beverly Hills of Mexico City.  Among the shops were Abercrombie & Fitch, Armani, Birkenstock, Brooks Brothers, and Coach.  Needless to say, I did not go into any of the stores, except for one which caught my eye.

Hamley's, a company based in London, promotes itself as the world's finest toy store.

I went inside, looked around, and was sorely disappointed.  I guess I was expecting something like the legendary FAO Schwartz toy store in New York City.  There was nothing really extraordinary about the toys (except, perhaps, the prices), and three quarters of the merchandise was made in China.

I left the mall, walked to the subway, and went back to my very nice, but less hoity-toity neighborhood.