Supermercado Jose Luis can still thrive if he uses a keen business sense. Jumbo and La Sirena tend to be overpriced. Even if he lowers certain prices by only a few pesos, people will take notice, and continue shopping there. Jumbo and La Sirena have extraordinary overheads to maintain.
La Sirena is a supermarket where gringos go to shop, and feel like they were back home in a Shoprite. . Jose Luis is where local Dominicans go , where they pay 79 cents for a pound of rabo, while the shoppers at La Sirena pay 149 pesos. Jose Luis survives because it is locals who count, not a few guys from Lilburn or Banff.
i suspect Jumbo will be the same..
Good point Gorgon. The big chain supermarkets survive in Santo Domingo and Santiago from purchases from Dominicans, but in Puerta Plata there are not as many wealthy Dominicans. So the market for people shopping at the large supermarkets is much thinner/smaller. I don't think the price difference is that much for most items, but when I was in Jumbo in Santo Domingo I did notice the higher prices for some items. Jumbo also has sales every week and many of the sale items seem to be of low quality.
There was some talk of a possible Wendy's fast food restaurant opening there. Did a Wendy's in fact open there or is it planned?
La Sirena and Jumbo are by no means targetted at the wealthy. Jumbo is actually below La Sirena. The only national chain that targets thr wealthy and upper middle class is Supermercado Nacional and Súper Bravo, though the second one vary their offerings depending where the store is located. There are other supermarkets, but they are very limited in their number of stores, often comprising a single store; and are not nationally present.
I haven't been to La Sirena PP in quite a while, but the times I have been there the clientele looked like everywhere else (though La Sirena does change their offerings depending where the store is located). At any given time only a handful of people that look like gringos (some could be Dominicans, never know) are seen shopping, the bulk of the people are nothing more than Dominicans.
La Sirena also changes their prices depending on where the store is located. I bought yuca flour at La Sirena in San Cristobal for 99 pesos, and the following week we were in Santo Domingo and the same bag was 149 pesos.
I was at Jumbo yesterday, didn't go for that particularly but I saw it opened and popped in, very busy, mad house getting in and out and the parking arrangement was totally wrong - although I think they eventually sort it out.
Didn't buy anything because you had to be pregnant to be able to pay quickly (as it was announced on load speakers repeatedly), otherwise a very long queue.... !
Their normal prices looked higher than other places but you have to buy their special offers or have Jumbo loyalty card of some sort to benefit, they have more stuff/variety than Sirena, it's bigger, but for me just one price comparison was enough, Large Presidente 109p, in Sirena it is 99p, enough said...
The parking lot mayhem is clearly visible.
[video=youtube;R_POlWAR5LU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_POlWAR5LU[/video]