What's the food like in the markets in Coronado, Panama?

The town of Coronado is one of the fastest growing beach communities in the country.  They have prepared for this expansion by building a mall which has quite a number of shops, hardware stores, restaurants and three major supermarkets (Supermercados)  - Rey, Super 99 and Machetazo.  

 

While they may not be as well supplied as many supermarkets in the states, you will find just about anything you need at a fair price.  In fact Machetazo  has...

The town of Coronado is one of the fastest growing beach communities in the country.  They have prepared for this expansion by building a mall which has quite a number of shops, hardware stores, restaurants and three major supermarkets (Supermercados)  - Rey, Super 99 and Machetazo.  

 

While they may not be as well supplied as many supermarkets in the states, you will find just about anything you need at a fair price.  In fact Machetazo  has two upper levels which serve as a small department store.  

The food in the markets in Coronado, Panama is of excellent quality and variety and are sold in very clean facilities. Also they have very good services.  Another plus is that you can find national and international products at very good prices. You can find the three top food chains of Panama at Coronado.

The food in the markets in Coronado, Panama is of excellent quality and variety and are sold in very clean facilities. Also they have very good services.  Another plus is that you can find national and international products at very good prices. You can find the three top food chains of Panama at Coronado.

Everything on your usual shopping list at home, you will find in Coronado, for about the same price, if you are from the USA. The most economical way is to buy local products, which you enjoy more the more you become “at home” here in Panama. Many will prefer the fruit and veggie vendors to the supermarkets and others look to the organic farm produce, which is less available in general.
 
Meanwhile, Panama is full of business opportunities and open to letting you set...

Everything on your usual shopping list at home, you will find in Coronado, for about the same price, if you are from the USA. The most economical way is to buy local products, which you enjoy more the more you become “at home” here in Panama. Many will prefer the fruit and veggie vendors to the supermarkets and others look to the organic farm produce, which is less available in general.
 
Meanwhile, Panama is full of business opportunities and open to letting you set up a food business.  So maybe you crave deli from New York City, so ...?  I think this already exists in Panama City, so all you need is to get it to Coronado. 

 

(Rey supermarket, Coronado, Panama, pictured.)

There are four major grocery stores in the Coronado, Panama area. You could literally walk across the street from one grocery store to the next.
 
The grocery stores in Coronado are The Ray, Super99, Machetazo, and Riba Smith. Riba Smith is the high end, American-type Whole Foods style grocery store. It is a little more expensive but you will find most things that you are accustomed to in the United States such as Oscar Mayer bacon, Oreo cookies, etc. The other grocery stores...

There are four major grocery stores in the Coronado, Panama area. You could literally walk across the street from one grocery store to the next.
 
The grocery stores in Coronado are The Ray, Super99, Machetazo, and Riba Smith. Riba Smith is the high end, American-type Whole Foods style grocery store. It is a little more expensive but you will find most things that you are accustomed to in the United States such as Oscar Mayer bacon, Oreo cookies, etc. The other grocery stores have most everything that you want that you could find in the US. They cater to the North American expat market so it’s just like shopping in a grocery store in the US. These stores are more along the lines of Ingles in the Unites States then they would be a Publix, which is one of the high end grocery stores on the East Coast in the US.
 
You can buy fruits and vegetables in the grocery stores here in Panama but many people prefer buying them fresh from the stalls on the streets because you will get them for much less.  They are also fresher and organic, and much better than the fruits and vegetables that you would find in the grocery stores.
 
Prices depend on whether the food was imported or if it was grown locally. So if you walk in to The Ray, Super99, Machetazo, or Riba Smith, the prices will be about the same or even higher than in North America for items that are imported. If it’s a Panamanian product or anything that they didn’t have to import, then it would be less expensive.
 
If you go to the local grocery stores (as opposed to the four I just mentioned), you won’t find any imported products but you will get items that are much less expensive. A lot of people do that, but walking into a local grocery store is like walking into a hole in the wall. There is really no organization and it’s not very clean. The products are packaged but the labeling is in Spanish, so if you don’t know Spanish, you don’t know what you are purchasing. 
 
At the food stands, the cost of items would depend on how good a negotiator you are and if you can speak Spanish. If you don’t speak Spanish, they will tell you how much it is and you just pay it.
 
A bunch of bananas could cost around 50 cents to $1 at the food stands while it would cost triple that amount if you buy it from the grocery stores. Most of the items sold at the food stands are grown locally so they are cheaper, plus if you speak Spanish, then you will be able to make purchases a lot cheaper. If you only speak English, then you won’t be able to barter with the seller, so whatever amount they tell you, that’s what you pay. A pineapple typically costs $1 to $1.50 if you speak Spanish but if you don’t it could cost around $3 at the food stands. If you buy the same pineapple in the grocery stores, it would cost around $6. A small watermelon in the food stands costs around $3 while it’s $8 in the grocery stores. 
 
There are fresh fish stands right on the ocean where the fishermen come in and you can buy whatever fish you want, such as jumbo shrimp, sea bass, corvine, etc. It’s really very inexpensive if you buy fish from the fish stands by the ocean. I recently went with five friends to buy shrimp and sea bass, and we had so much that, for six people, it was more than we could eat and we had enough for two meals afterwards. The price was $14 for everything.

 

(El Ray supermarket decorates with pumpkins for Halloween, Panama, pictured.)

Many people (including myself) are saying that they want to be a better healthier person coinciding with the change in their life and becoming an expat, and thank goodness this area has such great weather to support growing things all the time.  I’m getting fresh pineapples and watermelons and mayacuya (passion fruit), tomatoes that takes like tomatoes, zucchini that takes like zucchini; things that you just take for granted here in Coronado, so I buy a lot of my produce and my...

Many people (including myself) are saying that they want to be a better healthier person coinciding with the change in their life and becoming an expat, and thank goodness this area has such great weather to support growing things all the time.  I’m getting fresh pineapples and watermelons and mayacuya (passion fruit), tomatoes that takes like tomatoes, zucchini that takes like zucchini; things that you just take for granted here in Coronado, so I buy a lot of my produce and my vegetables from these markets that are regular markets on the side of the road, up the hill. You can get delivery to your door if you don’t want travel. The organic growers will deliver a box of mixed organics to your door every week.
 
I have never seen more people concerned about their health follow through by buying all the fresh food we have here in Coronado that we get so easily and in such abundance.  The fish that the boat out in front of me catching right now is fish that I can go buy right off the beach this afternoon. Our cows are even fed by grass. People complain that the beef is not as tender as it is in the US and that’s because our cows actually eat grass. It’s delicious, it’s great, and it’s healthy.

 

(Fruit and vegetable stand in Valle de Anton, near Coronado, Panama, pictured.)