Walmart: Fine Wine, If You Can Get To It

Road-building crews are laboring day and night at the intersection of Calle Valerio Gonzalez Canseco and Boulevard Mauricio Castro, also known as the Transpeninsular Highway, in the heart of San Jose del Cabo. Not sure what they are up to, but the project looks to be an afterthought prompted by the opening this past week of a sprawling Walmart Supermercardo at the intersection. At this late hour, crews won't be able to do much to relieve a bottleneck that any urban planner should have seen coming by just looking at the paperwork and taken a drive.

In a way, it's gratifying to see a corporation like Walmart tackle this sort of in-fill project right in the middle of town rather than building on the outskirts, thereby again contributing to urban sprawl. The lot that the massive structure now occupies previously was an eyesore, which to judge by the stentch that arose from it had been used in large part as a dump for abandoned pets. Any business on the site would have been an improvement, but the scale of the Walmart is laughable, which it is as long as you don't have to put up with the congestion, either as motorist or pedestrian.

Given the size and popularity of Walmart, why couldn't city authorities see this coming, or did they and just not care? Even without Walmart on that corner, traffic congestion had been intensifying. Calle Valerio Gonzalez Canseco long has been one busy street, thus the six topes that try to slow drivers heading up or down the slope. As construction of the Walmart progressed several new businesses joined the numerous schools, restaurants and cafes already lining the street, providing a glimpse of what was coming. San Jose del Cabo residents are grumbling about the placement of the Walmart and the additional traffic it is drawing, but it's pretty late in the game for any kind of effective opposition to develop.

By the time we return to San Jose del Cabo next fall or winter I suspect that Walmart will have wiped out several of the grocery stores, tortillerias, panaderias, viveros and other small businesses that exist in virtually every neighborhood of the town. On the other hand, a large Office Max on the south edge of town so far hasn't seemed to put out of business any of the papelerias alongside virtually every school in the community, so Walmart's impact might not be as severe as anticipated.

As I strolled about the new Walmart I was struck by the caliber and depth of its wine department. I can't recall a Walmart in the United States stocked so extensively, especially with such prized and pricey releases as the House of Morande 2004 Maipo Valley Bordeaux Blend (about $65 in U.S. currency), the De Martino 2004 Maipo Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($43), the Adobe Guadalupe 2006 Miguel ($33) and the Baron de Chivel 2001 Reserva Rioja ($137). Clearly, Walmart is taking on the town's few fine-wine shops, which will be another endangered species in the area. Good luck; we'll be hoping they all are surviving when we return to San Jose del Cabo.