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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



The exact number of merchants and of retail 

 stores cannot be stated because the term comer- 

 ciante or merchant includes traveling merchants 

 or peddlers, streethawkcrs, keepers of plaza and 

 sidewalk booths and displays, etc. Furthermore, 

 many homes maintain a coimter and a few shelves 

 in the front room which may be stocked with only 

 a few pesos worth of cheap commodities such as 

 cigarettes, bread, bottled soft drinks, firewood and 

 candles, but such tendajones are considered as 

 full-fledged commercial enterprises, and the opera- 

 tors or owners are considered to be merchants. 

 In addition, a number of the handicrafters or 

 cottage craftsmen retail some or all of their 

 products in their homes, and such places are often 

 listed as stores or sales places (ventas or expendios) 

 although the owners are not considered to be 

 merchants. Also, there are several wholesalers 

 who retail on occasion, as in the case of dealers in 

 seeds and regional handicrafts. 



FOOD AND OTHER STORES 



The most important type of store is the tienda 

 de abarrotes which is essentially a grocery store. 

 The largest of these commonly sell all types of 

 foodstuffs locally consumed excepting fresh meats, 

 vegetables, and fruits. A normal stock consists 

 of maize, beans, habas, rice, lard, dried meat, 

 sugar (white granulated and brown sugar in 

 blocks), salt, spices and flavorings, coffee, choco- 

 late, wheat pastes for soup (macaroni, spaghetti, 

 etc.), wheat flour, white wheat breads, crackers 

 and cookies, some tinned foods, hard candies, 

 chewing gum, bottled soft drinks, bottled beer, 

 and eggs. Among nonfoodstuffs the typical 

 tienda de abarrotes carries bar soap and lejla, 

 candles, kerosene, cigarettes, matches, and pos- 

 sibly firewood and charcoal. Of the above- 

 named items aU or most of the maize, beans, 

 habas, wheat flour, bread, soft drinks, eggs, lejla, 

 firewood, and charcoal are produced locally. 

 Much of the rice, sugar, dried meat, and coffee is 

 obtained from the southern part of Michoacan. 

 The remaining items come from many parts of 

 Mexico and usually are obtained from whole- 

 salers in Morelia and Patzcuaro. Foodstuffs 

 processed outside of Mexico are practically non- 

 existent in the Quiroga stores. 



In 1945 there were 23 tiendas de abarrotes in 

 Quiroga kept by 42 comerciantes (including owners, 

 spouses, and older sons). These grocery stores 



grade on one side into the 8 tiendas de misceldnea 

 (average to large grocery stores which also carry 

 goods not associated with grocery stores), and 

 some 24 tendajones which are small stores with a 

 restricted assortment of goods either of the 

 abarrotes or the misceldnea type. Among items 

 carried in the misceldnea stores are metal buckets, 

 washbasins, chamber pots, cordage, "straw" hats, 

 thread and yarn, dyestuffs, pigments, paints, 

 linseed oil, plowpoiuts {rejas), cheap table service, 

 brooms, knives, scissors, needles, pins, machetes, 

 writing paper, ink, etc. The larger stores are 

 concentrated in the central blocks, but tendajones 

 are scattered over the entire town. There are a 

 total of 55 of the above-mentioned tiendas and 

 tendajones which handle groceries and other goods. 

 There are several ways of evaluating their im- 

 portance. In the commercial census of 1944 there 

 were 26 establishments which had an investment 

 of $500 or more; and there were 21 stores which 

 averaged daily sales (November of 1943 and 

 November of 1944) from $8 up to $30. A more 

 accurate evaluation can be obtained from the 

 distribution (in May and -June of 1945) of the 100 

 sacks of sugar allotted to the municipality of 

 Quiroga by the national regulatory corporation 

 known as Distribuidora y Reguladora, S. A. de 

 C. V. Twenty-eight sacks went to bakers, 

 candy and ice-cream makers, and bottlers of soft 

 drinks; 9 sacks went to the 14 merchants in the 

 three western pueblos; and 63 sacks were distrib- 

 uted among 38 merchants in Quiroga. One 

 merchant received 6 sacks, 6 merchants received 

 4 sacks, 1 received 3K sacks, and 7 other mer- 

 chants were allotted from IK to 3 sacks. In 

 summary: there were 8 "large" stores, 27 in the 

 intermediate bracket, and 20 small establish- 

 ments. Of the 35 larger stores, all but 4 are lo- 

 cated on the Plaza Principal and the 4 axial streets. 

 Of the 55 stores under discussion, all but 5 were 

 opened for business (in present location and under 

 the present management) since 1937; only 1 dates 

 from before the revolution; and more than half 

 were opened in the period 1941-44. 



Specialized stores are not numerous. The four 

 butchershops, one talabarterla, two paleterlas, and 

 two drug stores have been mentioned previously. 

 Some of the bakeries have associated ventas de pan; 

 several of the tanners have expendios de suela (sole 

 leather) ; a number of the zapaierlas and huarache- 

 rias keep stocks of shoes and sandals for sale; 



