Wal-Mart meets Tactic

I am not about to provoke or participate in a philosophical debate over Wal-Mart. I know better. Few corporations arise such heated emotions in Americans (including my eldest brother and his wife) as does this low price mantra-spouting leviathan. Is Wal-Mart beneficial or destructive? A shining example of corporate efficiency or a glaring case of corporate greed? A godsend to the economically disadvantaged or Satan himself incarnate? I will leave that discussion to university coffee shops. All I know is that Tactic is getting a Wal-Mart, and it has got me thinking.

Wal-Mart Centroamerica maintains five chains of stores in Guatemala under the brand names of ClubCo, Hiper Paiz, Paiz, Maxi Bodega, and Despensa Familiar. ClubCo is like the equivalent of Sam’s Club, Hiper Paiz of Super Wal-Mart, and Paiz of Wal-Mart. Despensa Familiar and Maxi Bodega are smaller “lower end” stores that don’t have their respective American counterparts. ClubCo is located only in the capital. There are a handful of Hiper Paiz stores in the capital and one in Xela. Paiz and Maxi Bodega chains are in medium and large sized cities, as well as the capital. Despensas, the most prolific member of the family, can be found in smaller sized cities and up.

Personally I am elated to have a Despensa Familiar here in Tactic, but I wonder what affect it will have on the community. In the states when a Wal-Mart comes to town there is always the validated fear that it is going to put all the “mom and pop” stores out of business. People protest and community groups are formed for the sole purpose of impeding the expansion of this corporate giant (even though I am eagerly awaiting its arrival, I am considering picketing the construction site—“¡Wal-Mart es el Diablo!”—just for the sheer bewilderment it would produce). But here in rural Guatemala, people, like me, are excited. There are flyers posted all over town announcing the store’s arrival, and there is always a group of intrigued onlookers loitering around the construction site (Honestly, I don’t know if they are interested in the Despensa or just the fact that something really big is going to be built there, but they are interested nonetheless). And as for community deterioration like feared in the states, I don’t foresee that happening here.

Guatemala is a cultural of the personal tienda (store), and a Wal-Mart in town isn’t going to change that. There are tiendas that specialize in plastics, or piñatas, or disposable paper products, or house wares, or used American clothing, but the majority of them “focus” (focus is in air quotes because with the complete randomness of some stores it would be a stretch to say they are focused on anything) on daily consumable items—chips, sodas, candy, basic cereals, gum, chocolates, butter, simple canned goods, toilet paper, soap, toothbrushes, etc. Each tienda has basically the same offering of products, but usually with a twist; this one has chips and little stuffed animals while that one has the sodas and playing cards. It is an everyday flee market adventure.

Dozens and dozens of these little tiendas dot the streets of Tactic, sometimes two or three on the same block. Probably half the tiendas are not making a profit and the majority of their owners are most likely completely oblivious to that fact. But even if they knew, it probably wouldn’t matter, because in rural Guatemala for most people having a tienda is a social venture and not a business one. If you have a room that faces the street, simply throw in some of the standard items and call it a tienda. Then you can sit around your house all day “working” instead of doing nothing.

While opening a tienda can be a social affair, the same holds true for people when choosing at which of the infinitely equal places to shop. Sometimes the search for a specific product is the driving force (“The stuffed bear in that store would be a great gift for my niece”), or proximity (“I really need a stick of butter for this recipe so I’ll go to the nearest place”), but mostly people patronize a specific tienda because they have a friendly relationship with the owners. At times this relationship forms as a result of close proximity, but that is not always the case. I almost always buy what I need from the same store on the central park, exceptions being when I am looking for a specific item (but never stuffed bears). On the way to that tienda I pass five or six other ones where I could get the same exact thing, but I would rather walk the extra distance to give my money to and chat with my friends.

So, you may be asking yourself, if I am intent on patronizing friendly local establishments then why am I so excited about the “evil” Wal-Mart empire coming to town. Well, Skip, there are some things I like that are just not currently available in Tactic. As it stands now, I make a weekly or bi-weekly trip to the Paiz in Cobán to purchase these items, and I would much rather be able to buy them here. My standard Paiz shopping list consists of wheat bread, chicken breasts, Gala apples, and sliced turkey breast. The Gala apples I buy in Tactic when my favorite market stall has them, wheat bread is a foreign substance to most Guatemalans and therefore not found anywhere in town, and, yes, while I could buy a butchered chicken in the market and cut the breasts off it myself (another goal for this year!), I really prefer for the meat I eat to have no resemblance to the animal it once was.

Despensa Familiar will provide Tactic with variety and all things slightly exotic (like mustard). But who needs variety and exoticness if your main diet consists of eggs, beans, rice, and tortillas? I actually question less if the store is going to harm local businesses, but whether it can really survive here. Products like wheat bread and mustard, among many other things, aren’t available in Tactic because most rural Chapines don’t eat them. And unlike in the states where Wal-Mart drives its competitors out of business with its rock bottom prices, products are usually more expensive in the Wal-Mart family stores than in the tiendas and the market. It is the rich and better-off who shop at Wal-Mart in Guatemala, mostly the “higher end” Hiper Paiz and Paiz chains but also to an extent including the Despensa.

I am sure that Wal-Mart Centroamerica did its legwork and feasibility studies before deciding to locate one of its stores in Tactic, but I don’t really see how it could be that profitable here. From some of the vehicles and houses I have seen in town, I know Tactic has its population of wealthy people (wealthy by Guatemalan standards), but is that privileged minority large enough to support a Dispensa? As it stands now there are a total of three Wal-Mart family stores in all of Alta Verapaz, whose population is just a little over 780,000. One, a Despensa Familiar, is in Carcha, while the other two, another Despensa and a Paiz, are located in Cobán, just 18 miles on a paved road from Tactic. Will the Despensa here be profitable at the cost of cannibalized sales in Cobán from the loss of customers, like myself, who would have otherwise made the 30-minute trip to make their purchases? I will employ one of my favorite Guatemalan responses to my own hypothetical questions: Saber?

I suspect Wal-Mart sabe a lot more than this year-old Tactiqueña, so I trust that this Despensa scheduled to open in October will be here for the long haul, or at least until I finish my service (it would be really poor planning if it lasted less than a year). Perhaps this whole post was just the business major in me way overanalyzing the situation. All I know is you can count on me to be one of the customers perusing the isles the first day Tactic’s very own Wal-Mart opens.