Guadalajara's Mega is using design to steal market share from Walmart.
Guadalajara is a sprawling, low-rise city that just keeps growing. Every time I visit my mother, there are new additions to the urban landscape.
Ten years ago her neighborhood was on the outskirts of town. Today the undeveloped parcels of land between her neighborhood and the downtown district are rapidly being replaced by new housing, shopping and dining options. Too frequently they’re big chains from the North.
I didn’t mind when Starbucks took up residence at the airport (it’s conveniently located right outside customs and on the way to the taxi line—and after hours of travel from New York, I definitely can use a LARGE cup of coffee). Now they’ve multiplied, appearing in other strategic locations around town. But somehow Starbucks blends more easily into the leafy Guadalajara cityscape in a way that an Applebees or Sirloin Stockade never will.
On my latest visit I noticed Mega, an edgy addition to the uninspired big box line-up on Avenida Lopez Mateo. Mega is what might happen if you merged a bit of Target with some of Costco and threw in a touch of Whole Foods. It will be competing with the nearby Walmart, Costco and Sam’s Club for market share.
I’d put my money on the Mega.
Its façade is thoughtfully designed (I’ve been unable to determine the developer or architect) with color, materials and forms that—my smart mother remarked—evoke the work of Pritzker Award-winning Mexican architect Luis Barragán. And the boring big box retail formula has been reinterpreted with a modernist curtainwall that not only returns sophistication to an increasingly ugly Avenida, but also infuses the interior of the store with natural light. I’m sure the developer is banking on this design element inspiring shoppers to stay longer and spend more.
The expanse of glass also connects shoppers to the expansive vista of hilltops and blue skies outside—especially as you’re being whisked upstairs from the parking level on a futuristic inclined moving walkway.
The shopping experience, once inside Mega, doesn’t disappoint—from the variety of departments to the artful display of produce, baked goods and gourmet items. There’s also a café to rival Starbucks—in price as well as quality.
Will my mother’s new Mega catch on? Or will the neighborhood shoppers be put off by its sophisticated design, assume the prices are higher, and stay away?
I look forward to finding out on my next visit to Mexico.
