How are the stores and shops in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc? How's the shopping in Yucatan: Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, Cancun, Merida, etc?

Shopping in Yucatan is amazing. We love going shopping because when you are out on the beach there are small tiendas (local markets) where you can buy whatever you need. We also have some larger stores in Progreso, for example, Bodega Aurrera, which is part of the Walmart chain.
 
I love taking friends from the States to Merida to do grocery shopping. Walmart also owns Superama. In Merida, there is Costco, Sam’s, etc. Walmart is a very big entity in Mexico and they have a...

Shopping in Yucatan is amazing. We love going shopping because when you are out on the beach there are small tiendas (local markets) where you can buy whatever you need. We also have some larger stores in Progreso, for example, Bodega Aurrera, which is part of the Walmart chain.
 
I love taking friends from the States to Merida to do grocery shopping. Walmart also owns Superama. In Merida, there is Costco, Sam’s, etc. Walmart is a very big entity in Mexico and they have a lot of stores under a lot of different names. There is a store here named Chedraui. You can get anything in the world in that store. If I took you out of the car and blindfolded you and you walked into that store, you would think that you’re somewhere in New York City. It’s amazing! We have everything here.
 
In Merida, if you want to buy a Jaguar or a Landrover, go do it! Every car company is here and just about every big company is now in Merida. Mexico is an emerging market where everybody here now is on the ground floor and they’re coming in with large stores. You can get anything that you want, such clothing, the finest colognes like Giorgio Armani, and brands that used to be only available in the United States and Europe. Now you go into Liverpool’s in Merida and buy them.
 
You are going to pay a little more money for some things here but you can have everything that you want right at your fingertips. The prices can be higher, especially for electronics such as smart phones and other good quality products. Also, they may be introduced into the market in Mexico a month or two after they were introduced in the US. For these reasons, I buy phones from the States by having a friend bring my purchase when he comes down from the States into Mexico. When you are in Mexico, you will always have friends who are visiting from the US, so having people visit you (and bring some purchases with them, if you want them to) is not a problem.  

 

(Chedraui in Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico, pictured.)

The shopping in the Yucatan Peninsula is great. When you go to Cancun (in the state of Quintana Roo), you will find everything that you want. There are high end boutiques there such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Hermes, etc. They have whatever you desire. They have Luxury Avenue and specialty malls. 
 
You also have the regular, middle of the road stores and franchises where you could get whatever you want. In Merida (the largest city in the state of Yucatan), the shopping is...

The shopping in the Yucatan Peninsula is great. When you go to Cancun (in the state of Quintana Roo), you will find everything that you want. There are high end boutiques there such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Hermes, etc. They have whatever you desire. They have Luxury Avenue and specialty malls. 
 
You also have the regular, middle of the road stores and franchises where you could get whatever you want. In Merida (the largest city in the state of Yucatan), the shopping is about the same. We are not into the high end shopping but we have very nice malls and national department stores, which are very well known. You will be impressed with the shopping malls in Merida because it is just like shopping in the US. You walk inside the malls in Merida and it is just like walking inside a mall in the US; there is not a difference.
 
One of the advantages of living in the beach areas around Merida, like in Progreso, Sisal, all the way down to Celestún, is that all of them are within an hour of the major metropolitan area of Merida, where you have First World shopping in US-style malls. You have the First World at an arm’s reach but you can still live in a quiet place. I had some people who come to me and say that they find living in Sisal a bit isolated and they had to go to Merida often, but as time goes by, they go to Merida less and less. They stay in Sisal, where it is tranquil and calm, and they only go to Merida once in a while to do some shopping. They get used to the quiet and the easiness of living in an area that is not crowded.  

 

(Luxury Avenue, Cancun, Mexico, pictured.)