Here is the next installment of the Ciudad Juarez Mall tour. The Rio Grande Mall is very close to the first mall featured in this series Plaza de las Americas Mall.
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The anchors of this mall are Fabricas de Francia (2 floors), Gala Furniture (2 floors), SMart, and Coppel (2 floors). This mall is very popular and also has a newer look inside even though it is an older mall.
The inside of the mall is cramped compared to the other malls I visited so far. This mall is packed full with almost no vacancies. Kiosks are all over the place even in cramped spaces.
The SMart is joined to the mall with an open view throughout the store. Lots of neon signage inside of the store and late 90's design elements.
The checkouts face the mall corridor. The food court is on the other side of this section of the mall. For now we will just see the SMart side.
Now we look into the rest of the mall.
The layout of the mall is hard to describe. Half of the mall is a rectangle that is connected to a long straight corridor (the other half) that curves to an entrance/exit. There are also 2 exits near the SMart that have small corridors attached.
A small casino just right in the middle of the mall, something you will rarely see here in the US.
The center court.
This store front definitely stands out.
Rock music is very popular in this city. In addition to multiple stores selling art and music, graffiti with rock band names was easy to find all around the city.
The East end of the mall.
Fabricas de Francia is a higher end department store owned by Liverpool. It is similar to Dillard's and Nordstrom.
Let's take a look inside of this anchor. We start on the second floor in the electronics department.
These department stores are like going back in time. When was the last time an American department store in the South had a video game, movie, and music department?
Movies and music in a department store in 2019!
TV's. I would have gotten more pictures if one of the employees had not started following me around giving me the stink eye. Once I moved across the store, he stopped watching me.
Furniture across from the electronics.
Price scanner and online kiosk.
More furniture and home goods.
Motorbikes, sporting goods equipment and toys in the background.
Down to the first floor.
Retro fixtures.
Back into the mall we go, check out the retro restaurant across from Fabricas de Francia.
Interesting design element in this spot.
Check out the huge chair in front of the Gala furniture store.
Across from the Gala store we find another Coppel store. This one has a decent sized wall of TV's.
An optometrist tucked away in the electronics department.
Big selection of motorbikes inside of this Coppel.
The stairs leading to a very small second floor.
Toys, tires, automotive, a few furniture setups, and the bank were all that there is space for on the second floor.
A view of the first floor and the majority of the store.
Most people going to the second floor were going to the bank.
Video games in this Coppel too, the selection was not as good as the first one I visited though.
One of the 2 mall entrances to Coppel.
I thought the baby from the memes was a funny touch to the signage at this store.
Villarreal is another rent-to-own type of place similar to Famsa.
Payphone was in surprisingly good condition.
The corridor leading to S Mart, the buggies probably get in the way when the mall is really busy.
Another Waldo's dollar store.
More photos of the S Mart side of the mall. Look at the detail in the store signage.
Looking towards Coppel and the Sounds store.
An old school mini-arcade.
Now we have a few shots of the outside of the mall. This is the exterior of the Gala Furniture store.
Fabricas de Francia
A view of the mall from across the street, just past the Burger King.
More Ciudad Juarez Malls on the way. The next 2 have some very awesome things to see.
One day, two malls. It's great to see these fascinating malls which I know nothing about. The checkouts of the S-mart opening into the mall is really interesting. I've never seen anything like that before. I guess it gives the mall shoppers a good view of the store and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteFabricas de Francia looks like a really interesting, high-end store. I bet the prices were high, but the shopping experience seems really great. That electronics department feels like a Foley's from the 1970s, but with modern furnishings and products. That DVD/Blu-Ray department feels even nicer than a Barnes & Noble. Shopping there must be a real experience. It's an experience I wish we still had with American department stores.
The Coppel store again feels like what a Sears should feel like just like at the other mall we looked at today. The electronics department is impressive and I once again get a bit of a Service Merchandise vibe to it.
The store sign with the picture of the baby is rather odd. The graphics on the windows make it look a bit low-rent, but I guess the odd mix of stores and services makes these malls interesting.
That Burger King looks massive. Is it two stories or does it have a big playground or something?
I got the post back up just now with the added commentary.
DeleteThere were 2 Schweggmann stores in the New Orleans area attached to mini-malls that were setup similar to how this store is setup inside of the mall.
The department stores in Mexico seem to get a lot right and they had no shortage of shoppers. This mall is literally a one-stop shop with your traditional mall clothing and shoe stores, electronics, groceries, furniture stores, food court, and even a casino. The mall was just missing a cinema which can be found at the nearby Plaza de las Americas Mall.
Coppel would probably do well here in the US especially near the border, they have low prices and their own financing department/bank. It has the feel of an old school store.
I had to get a photo of that store front, it was indeed very strange. Since I am not familiar with many of the stores in the mall, it took me a little while to see which stores are local and which ones are from chains.
The Burger King had a large playground. Burger King had 2 locations in the area that were huge. Chains from the US are all over the place in this city. Dominos, McDonalds, Chili's, Applebees, IHOP, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Subway, Buffalo Wild Wings, Starbucks, Peter Piper Pizza, Dairy Queen, and several others I can't immediately remember. If you get tired of Mexican food there are plenty of other options out there.
Coppel could do well in the US. I did some reading about them and it seems that their in-house financing department is probably a big part of their success. They are a bit like Conn's in that regard, but their stores seem nicer than Conn's and with better prices and selection. I think they could do well especially with Sears and perhaps even JCPenney closures creating more room for hardlines retailers who specialize in offering in-house credit.
DeleteCanadian malls are more diverse than US malls, but these Mexican malls seem even more diverse in terms of products than Canadian malls. They really do have something for everyone.
I wonder how well the department store employees get paid at these more luxurious department stores where they have to wear suits. Perhaps working in these department stores is more of a career than it is here now and the employees are decently compensated and know their departments well. There are still some career employees at places like Macy's and Dillard's in the US, but they're becoming more rare and are being replaced by more temporary type employees who aren't as invested in the success of the store.
I'm guessing American fast food and sit-down restaurants are more of a luxury item in Mexico than they are here. Thus, the establishments may have to try a bit harder to make the places more of a destination. Perhaps the same can be said about the department stores as well.
The problems with shipping in Mexico seems like it would hurt online sales. The department stores certainly seem to be picking up the slack though. Hopefully they can continue to be successful. Maybe some of these stores can then cross the border and improve the shopping experience for Americans. I feel that some American retailers have become so fixated on low prices that they've forgotten what makes shopping exciting for a vast range of shoppers. Online shopping and stores which look like warehouses don't cut it for a lot of people including myself, but I'm also interested in a lot more than just shoes and women's clothing.
Not many stores offer in store credit where you could buy clothes, furniture, motorbikes, electronics, appliances, toys, and many more items. It would be beneficial to many families just starting out, to get credit and fill their house up from Coppel.
DeleteWait until you see how diverse the 5th mall is. I just posted the 4th mall to check out.
I would guess that the department store employees make decent money for Mexico, but the wages everywhere are much lower than down here. Some people work in El Paso and live in Juarez, but the border crossing into the US takes a long time to cross. Even the people with passport cards still have to wait in long lines to get through.
The food prices in Mexico are cheaper than here even in American restaurants. You are right though in that it is more of a luxury to eat at fast food places.
You are right about American retailers. They have lost the excitement that their stores used to have. Going to shop was an experience. Now it is more of a chore. There is a lot of excitement at the malls in Mexico, and much more variety in what they have to offer than you will find in most US malls.