lifestyle, travel This is Cozumel
Superstore in Playa del Carmen
New Playa del Carmen superstore.
  Soriana is the second largest retailer in Mexico second only to Wal-Mart de Mexico, and has really put a foothold in the market place over the past few years.

Originally seen as the weakest of the 4 top commercial chains, Soriana is now out selling both Grupo Gigante SA and Controladora Comercial Mexicana SA, over the past few years this Monterrey based chain has spent hundreds of millions of dollars expanding into Central Mexico as well as the East Coast of Mexico.

Although Soriana has been in Cancun for the past few years, we have all been waiting for them to come and open in Playa del Carmen. Wednesday July 12th 2006 Soriana opened its doors to a happy crowd, and we went to check it out.

As we poked around oohing and ahhing I felt like a kid in a candy store. Although similar in some ways to Super Mega or Wal-Mart there were certainly more choices. Specialty oils, pastas, and imported cheese were abundant as well as fresh milk, and a variety of homemade breads such as kalamata olive, 8 grain, and energy bread with fruits and grains. As a local who is crazy about bread I was really excited about the bakery section. Homemade jalapeƱo, tomato, and whole wheat tortillas were also there to titillate the senses. The produce section was extensive and beautiful with a fresh cut flower area as well.

We were stopped by their marketing director, Kenneth Moskal, and he wanted to know what we thought. We gave him a big thumbs up, and he proceeded to tell us that the Playa del Carmen store is being stocked with more gourmet and imported items compared to some of their other locations due to the fact that we have such a wide variety of people here in our area, lucky us! Watch out Wal-Mart!

Story and photo courtesy of www.playamayanews.com.