Supermercado Chino

It just so happens that on Sundays in General Pico Argentina the typical supermarkets or grocery stores, along with the majority of other stores close in order to provide a day of rest for the employees.  So, what do you do when you need food on a Sunday but everywhere else is pretty much closed?  Why of course, un supermercado chino!  (Also known as Chinese supermarket).

My host dad (Marcelo) and I went to pick up a few things to prepare lunch and I got the scoop on los supermercados chinos here in Argentina.  Apparently throughout Argentina there are many supermercados chinos that are run by Chinese families and they typically sell many of the same items as other grocery stores for cheaper and are open later into the nighttime and on Sundays.  There is suspicion and an investigation that there are two different lines of these supermarkets and that the families working them have to do something for China, but it is all a bit hazy.  In the city of Buenos Aires there is sort of a Chinese mafia "mafia china" that has caused a number of deaths in the Chinese immigrants.  They apparently force them to pay a commission and if they do not pay it usually results in death.  The things that you never think about when you research a country...  The Koreans also have established businesses around Argentina, but they  typically have clothing stores.

The supermercado chino I visited this morning:

 

It was actually very nice and the family working was very polite and spoke fairly clear Spanish, with an accent, but that includes me too!

It could not be a supermercado chino without some Chinese paper lanterns and small Chinese trinkets. 

 

Many people here joke about the Chinese supermarkets or use them when they want something cheap or when they need something when the others are closed.   It was a cultural thing that struck me as interesting and something I would not have naturally linked with Argentina.