Holiday vendors crowd the streets

The streets of Mérida are more crowded than ever with the arrival of vendors selling holiday goods. Photo: Desde el Balcon.
The streets of Mérida are more crowded than ever with the arrival of vendors selling holiday goods. Photo: Desde el Balcon.

Mérida, Yucatán — The local Chamber of Commerce has asked municipal authorities to stop issuing permits for street vendors, complaining that since the beginning of December, even more stalls have been appearing on sidewalks and in parks selling Christmas decorations, fireworks and novelties.

Local CANACO President José Manuel López Campos, who represents storefront merchants, said that walkways started getting crowded since the first day of the month.

He complained that shoppers who come downtown are being hindered on crowded sidewalks by the vendors, many arriving from other states, and who represent unfair competition to established merchants. One vendor told Diario de Yucatán that he can undercut established merchants because he is free of overhead costs. Another said that vendors do this by necessity, not by choice, so they can provide for their families.

Entire families come to shop, and this time of year up to 250,000 people visit the shopping district on weekends, he said. The most congested areas are on Calle 65 between 54 and 56 — which is called the “street of the piñatas” — Calle 56 between 65 and 63, and the west corridor of the mercado Garcia Rejón, across from the San Benito market.

Source: Press Release, Diario de Yucatán

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