New centralities and consumption practices in Mexico City. From the micro-shop to the hypermarket

Abstract

This paper addresses the phenomenon of the simultaneous and explosive expansion since the late eighties all over Mexico City metropolitan space, of the globalized retail chains and the street informal micro commerce. The processes linked to this phenomenon are explored by examining evidences regarding metropolitan population consumption practices, observed in a sample of neighbourhoods areas concerning a wide spectrum of urban environments and socio-spatial strata co-existing in the metropolitan territory. The analysis shows, on one hand, a transformation of consumption practices that, as it was expected, are differentiated according to residential location and its corresponding urban environment, individual and household socio-economic level, and alternative forms of mobility (private car - public transport). But, on the other hand, that these practices are also shaped by a specific economy of mobility and by specific compatibilities between globalized consumption forms -which tend to incorporate, though under different modalities, all social classes-, and the role played by the informal micro commerce.

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