# Big Stores in Guadalajara?



## jwt

I will visit Ajijic and Chapala soon with an eye toward maybe, someday, moving there. As part of imagining what my life would be like, I also want to have a look at whatever in Guad passes for Whole Foods (healthful/organic/vegetarian/unusual foods), PetSmart (large selection of dog foods and supplies), Target. What and where are these places in Guad? Is there a part of town that has all of them, so I could see them all in an easy day? Thanks.


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## RVGRINGO

There are a lot of very large stores and seriously upscale shopping malls in and around Guadalajara. However, if you want a 'cookie-cutter' duplication of what you have in Phoenix, you may not find it. You will, without a doubt, find suitable substitutes. In the food arena, for example, you will be pleased to find a wide array of choices, some organic, and much fresher and riper than you generally find in the USA. While larger grocery chains do carry pet food and supplies, there are also smaller specialty pet shops and veterinary shops. Your neighbors can suggest the nearest ones when you get here, as there are several at Lake Chapala. The large Mega supermarkets are much like Target and seem to carry some of the same brands.


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## Salto_jorge

We have you basic stores like Sears, Walmart, Sams , Home Depot and Costco, I may have seen a Pennys but I am not sure.

Just because their names are the same, so not expect the same products or pricing.

When it comes to health foods, most foods down here are not raised with hormones or steroids, the cuts of meat are not as good as in the USA but then again they are better. Produce has a shorter shelf life then in the USA, I do not know why but always wash and peel everything.


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## Hound Dog

Salto_jorge said:


> We have you basic stores like Sears, Walmart, Sams , Home Depot and Costco, I may have seen a Pennys but I am not sure.
> 
> Just because their names are the same, so not expect the same products or pricing.
> 
> When it comes to health foods, most foods down here are not raised with hormones or steroids, the cuts of meat are not as good as in the USA but then again they are better. Produce has a shorter shelf life then in the USA, I do not know why but always wash and peel everything.


As an expat living in Mexico for some ten years, I would modify Salto´s comment as follows:

There is no standard for "organic foods" in Mexico and anyone can claim their produce or meats are "organic". That means nothing in terms of your expectations in the U.S. In Chiapas, where I live part of each year,"organic" means, more than anything else, grown using untreated human and animal excrement as fertilizer. What the Chinese call "night soil". This can make you sick.

I would disagree that produce has a shorter shelf life in Mexico than in the U.S. Produce department managers in Mexico, unlike their counterparts in the U.S., just never throw anything away until it rots or has become noticeably blemished over time. Almost all of the produce, meats and seafood you buy here in supermarkets come from huge commercial agricultural enterprises, fisheries and slaughter houses. We only buy seafood, for instance, from trusted fish mongers and you must be super cautious about buying shellfish here until you know your vendor and that takes time. In the meantime, always buy whole fish and not fish filets and always look those whole fish in the eyes and understand the noticeable difference between fresh and stale fish because you can only trust yourself or someone you have come to know and trust over time.

The beef, pork and other meat products are generally inferior to what you will find in the states although, the tough, lean meats they sell here may be better for you from a health perspective since they have little fat, are grass fed and will strengthen your jawbone . So-called free range chickens (known in the boonies as "ranch" chickens) can be as tough as bowling balls if not stewed the way you would stew an old rooster in France. On the other hand, the supermarket chickens can be very good.

If you are looking for a market similar to Whole Foods or like food purveyors, Mexico is not the place for you except perhaps in hard-to-find specialty markets or in places like Chiapas with its many small indigenous farms.


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## TundraGreen

In Guadalajara there are a couple of asian food markets, one on Avenida Mexico and one on Avenida Americas that I know about. There is a very small natural foods market on Morelos called Eco something that is supplemented on Saturdays by some additional natural food stands. There is a bulk foods supplier, Feliz Gallina, near the very large wholesale/retail Abastos fruit and vegetable market. There are quite a few panaderias that sell whole grain breads of various kinds. Then there are lots of fruits and vegetables that you never see in the US. One approach is to learn to take advantage of what is here.

Memo


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## Capecodder

How I wish there was a Target in GDL! Between Walmart, Soriana, Chedraui, etc we pretty much find what we need and we've found that Superama seems to be the "higher" end grocery store of the bunch. There's also the Andares Mall which is really high end, and not cheap. Best Buy has popped up too but I haven't been there yet to see how much different the prices are compared to the US. 
There is a great little store called La Casita that has lots of ****** imports, and has helped me get those hard to find items. The prices there are more expensive but I wouldn't expect the "gingo import" products to be cheap. I know in the Chapala area there are some, but anyone know of any other good ****** markets in GDL?


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## jwt

Thanks to all for the info.

Hound Dog:
I am (well was) indeed looking for a market similar to Whole Foods, but failing to find one is not a deal breaker. Mexico might still be the place for me.

TundraGreen:
I would certainly do my best to take advantage of what is there. That will involve compromises. If I can't find vegetarian dog food, I'll have to choose between trying to make my own (not easy to do, and have it be nutritionally complete, I'm told) and feeding animals to my animals. If there's something that I really really want but is available only at Wal-Mart, I might buy it there,(SNIPPED)


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## cscscs007

I do not live in Mexico but I go every year and the fresh produce is amazing and much better than the US. Most areas have "tianquis" that sell every week. As for beef and pork it is usually fresh as the butcher shop butchers daily. Yhe difference in taste is because the cattle are grass fed and thus aren't "fat" cattle so the taste is because of that, and is actually much healthier. As far as food I agree it is excellent, but for things you take for grnated in the US like a coffee pot and a can opener and things like this can be difficult to find so I bring mine with me when I go. I myself plan on retiring there early in the next 5 - 10 years and never look back.


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## johnmex

There is a pet "chain store" called +kota (Mascota).

For human food we go to "Mercado Alcalde", downtown Guadalajara. The quality of the fresh food is superior to most anything found in the big box _supermercados_.


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## jwt

Thanks, johnmex. I will attempt to find it. 

"+" = "mas" ... I get it! The 5 minutes of high-school Spanish during which I was awake is going to come in mighty handy.

Now if only I could figure out how to use El Google to find "+kota"....


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## makaloco

I just typed +kota exactly like that in the Google search box, and it was the first link in the results!


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