Retail god?

Some coverage this last week of the controversy over the planned Wal-Mart a few hundred metres from the spectacular 2,000-year-old pyramids at Teotihuacan, 30 miles north of Mexico City.

The Guardian reports that conservationists fear that the development will encourage yet more urban spillover from the capital and spoil the largely rural valley for ever. The Financial Times has got it about right in a column today: “Although the chain says the building will be discreet and carry the local Aurrera brand, perhaps it should take a hint from McDonald’s, which was forced to abandon plans to open a franchise in Oaxaca’s historic plaza. Or from Costco, which is still the target of shareholder resolutions after building on the site of the abandoned Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca.”

Filed in: Teotihuacán