Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Boycott the Gringos? What boycott?


Yesterday's "Hate the Yanquis Day" or "Boycott the Gringos Day" or "Whatever Day" wasn't too popular down here. The supposed boycott did not seem to have a big effect in Oaxaca. In fact, due to some noise about the boycott over the past couple of weeks, I expected to see at least a few protesters in front of at least a few of the better known American based businesses. Here is what I saw.

12:00 Noon:
VIPS Restaurant (Wal-Mart) - packed with a waiting line - normal for a holiday
Sam's Club - Parking lot about 2/3 to 3/4 full - normal for a holiday
Burger King Plaza del Valle - parking lot about 1/3 full (2:00 pm is the normal lunchtime down here) - normal for holiday
McDonald's outside Plaza del Valle - parking lot full - normal
KFC - parking lot full - unusual for a holiday at this hour
Pizza Hut - parking lot about 3/4 full - unusual for a holiday at this hour
Chrysler Dealer - closed for the May Day holiday as are Honda, Peugeot, VW and Renault
Ford Dealer - closed for the May Day holiday with two transports full of cars waiting to be unloaded today.
Bodega Aurrera (Wal-Mart) Airport Highway - parking lot about half full (this is a new store and is not too busy on a non-boycott day. I don't know why. The Bodega Aurrera on the Etla Highway is always packed but it's on the other side of the city so I didn't see it yesterday.)
I returned to the city from San Martin de Tecajete at 5:30 pm and this is what I saw.
5:30 pm
Bodega Aurrera (Wal-Mart) Airport Highway - parking lot still about half full - normal
Pizza Hut - parking lot and restaurant packed - normal
KFC - parking lot and restaurant packed - normal
McDonald's outside Plaza del Valle - parking lot and restaurant packed - normal - this is an exceptionally well run establishment while Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut are not.
McDonald's inside Plaza del Valle - packed with two lines at the cashiers about 8 people long each - normal
Burger King Plaza del Valle - parking lot and restaurant packed with about a dozen cars parked on the street in front - I saw the same thing yesterday at this hour and this is unusual for Burger King - they are doing more business than normal. ???
Sam's Club - Parking lot overflowing to about two blocks from store - normal
VIPS Restaurant (Wal-Mart) - parking lot full but restaurant only about half full, if that - normal - big restaurant and small parking lot.
All 5 auto dealerships still closed, obviously
Burger King needs a boycott everyday.

UPDATE: I didn't see anything like this.

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