When you visit Zihua...

whether it is for a week, two weeks or several months, do you frequent el centro and el mercado? If you do, do you simply walk around and window shop only to go home empty handed? Or do you buy trinkets, do-dads and/or souvenirs?

I've been noticing both extremes - visitors walking around with bags of goodies which they may plan to use here or take home with them after the vacation is over as well as visitors who walk around for a couple hours only to go back to their hotel/condo/apartment without spending a peso. Unfortunately it seems like I see more of the latter, which concerns me and other locals.

There are so many small business owners struggling to stay open in Zihua all while they watch their neighbor close and the empty store go up for rent.

Is there something keeping you from making numerous small purchases in Zihua? Is it cost or maybe budget? Or maybe you don't want souvenirs even though they are quite inexpensive and make for a nice memory of paradise back home.

Just curious if vacationers and snowbirds alike can share their thoughts on this.

I think it is a lot of both things you mention. Although I do think sometimes people wait to go buying on the last couple days of their trip while they shopped every day while they were out. I know lots of folks like that.

BUT I do think that if someone has to decide on whether they will spend a couple of weeks in Zihua and not buy much or spend a week and spend hog wild, I think it is the two weeks that wins.

Keep in mind all those folks who are walking around are eating and drinking while they are here. Just maybe not buying much.

For me it is if I see something new I might or might not like it and buy, but for the same old things that I have seen for years I already have several of whatever it is and I do not want more. I even have one friend I heard tell a silver salesman one day "Hey, I have more silver than you. Do you want to buy some of mine or trade for something". For those of us who have been coming here a long time.........it is been there, done that, bought already. IMO only.

Unfortunately more and more of the "trinkets, doo-dads, and souvenirs" being offered are made in China or elsewhere. Usually when I am here the first two weeks of December I do all my Christmas shopping here, but that is a higher end market of jewelry, Mexican traditional clothing, Fruity Keiko type christmas decorations etc..
This year I am one of your wanderers because I am staying for a while.

A number of those tourists have been to Mexico before and already have all the tourist stuff they want. For the last ten or fifteen years we have purchased art and higher quality items, but not the usual silver jewelry, t-shirts, and other lower priced items that populate most of the mercado stalls both in Zihua and other towns. We just donʻt want more of it.

When we travel anywhere we prepare our breakfasts and lunches where we are staying and eat out for dinner, so we buy groceries and eat at restaurants.

Craig

In the ten day period that Mrs. LaJolla and I spend in Zihuatanejo every so often, we do a lot of downtown time. We go in every other day or more to buy supplies (beer, rolls, cheese, fruit etc.), eat dinner, see some entertainment, buy trinkets, and bump into Rob (true story... everyone talks about how they can never find the man but we see him every visit, just by walking around downtown). We don't do the big box stores, just the centro mercado and other downtown merchants. A few days a trip we just hang on LaRopa and at the Catalina, without going anywhere. We don't much leave Zihuatanejo for day trips anymore either. I guess I'm getting old.

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Curly!

I am in the same boat of some of the comments already, I have gone through the little shops but the items are rarely 'authentic' from what I can tell unless you go into the better shops. So I rarely buy anything from the "street vendors" for lack of a better word. Its too bad for them as I am a horrible negotiator/haggler!

I love the better shops in Zihua as there is lots of great stuff, but again it is difficult to purchase anything of any size due to luggage restrictions for the flight back.

A few nice meals, some local tours (this time Julio's and Blue Morpho) but I personally don't really consider my visits to be intended for "shopping" as much as relaxation. So I guess outside of some dinners & tours, the major portion my dollars simply go to the hotel/airline/tour operators due to this.

Well, this is probably gonna sound like I'm some kind of elitist capitalist pig, but my thoughts are if each year more people are selling to fewer tourists with less purchasing power, then perhaps there are too many sellers and they would be wise to sell where there is enough demand to sustain their needs. I don't recall seeing the sign that says "Mecca of the American Dream" when you enter the city limits. Like the USA, Zihuatanejo can't be expected to fulfill the economic needs of everyone seeking to live off the economy, well, perhaps if we actually planned families, but I digress. Existing solely to create income for a growing population should not be Zihuatanejo's goal or burden. If the community and the economy and the ecology are in harmony then fine. But there is a saturation point and a price to pay for ignoring it. One example of going past that saturation point is the so-called artisans' market which seems to sell more stuff from China nowadays than made by any Mexican artisans, especially from Guerrero where our handcrafts SHOULD be principally from. The market was a political trick to create a voting bloc. Wandering vendors on the streets and beaches were given markets if they promised to stop selling on the beaches and streets with the initial exception of a few hours before sunset. Well, we all know what happened next. Everyone phoned home and said "hey cuz c'mon down and help us sell" so the beaches and the streets filled up with wandering vendors again who got more markets (and cheap land on the hillsides and even the gringos will help you, too!) and who called their cousins and what a great deal, except that WHOOPS, apparently too many cousins came.

Same deal with the lodging. Hey, if Zihuatanejo lodgings year after year can't fill over 50% of their rooms then that tells me we overbuilt our lodging by 50%, not that we need to keep bringing more people here because we built too many rooms.

But I was born in Kentucky and I've got no business sense and my degree isn't in economics so I certainly make no claim to knowing I'm talking about.

Try to make it to Mexico once a year for a week+ vacation.

As Rob mentioned, surplus problem, whether it's bars, vendors, whatever, you get a certain amount of people fighting for the same $$$, it's not going to work. I tend to get into a "no gracias" mode, beach/town after a certain limit, right or wrong.

Also as mentioned, quality of product, if I see something that is true to the town/person selling it, then we're all in, but if it's just crap that was shipped in to sell we'll just ignore.

And with the luggage limits now that we're being screwed with, there's not a whole lot of room to bring stuff back w/o being charged big money.

But we'll be back Jan 6 to try and spend as much $$$$ as possible in the 10 days we'll be there.

We have traveled in various parts of Mexico for the past eleven winters. When you do this you have pretty much topped out on small souvenirs long ago. On the other hand we continue to be very interested in Mexico artwork and well made handicrafts. We probably spend more on items to bring home in our recent visits than we did earlier but typically no more than 2 or 3 pieces a year. A fine piece of silver jewelery from Taxco, a handmade rug from Oaxaca, a carving from Patzcuaro. We still stroll through all the craft markets but we may be the ones you talk about when you say that you don't see us buy anything.

I always buy:
1. another silver skull ring
2. lots of wood masks
3. day of the dead clay models
4. day of the dead clay ash trays

Good question and I think the answers are all in the comments below. In my order of relavence 1) Been coming twice a year and just run out of things to buy. We always take salt, coffee and vanilla beans home because we use them. We have brought back gifts to friends but after many trips that has stopped. If it is different and we have a place for it, we buy it and haggle just enough to not be considered a total gringo 2) Agree with the comment about "same old stuff" and "everybody has the same thing". 3) It is a little more costly to bring/pack bags home with the luggage restrictions so that mey have a little to do with it. 4) If you are selling souveniers/trickets I do believe you customer is the infrequent visitor, not the regular visitor. Next time down will try and spend more to support but trinkets/souveniers are still out.

we are presently close to Guadalajara... if you have ever travelled through Tlaquepaque or Tonala (suberbs of Guad) you will know what I am talking about.... the amount of "Stuff" produced in both those areas and then fanned out into Mexico is unbelievable... It always amazes me where it all goes and who the heck buys it. Some is wonderful "stuff"... the pottery with the pretty blue colour and little birds adorning the motifs... the lovely tin luminerias, the stunning carved doors, etc. but mingled in with all the goods from Tonala and Tlaquepaque are now far too many things made in China... you have to get your reading glasses out and read the fine print on the things you buy and make sure they are made in Mexico if you are buying in Mexico. Otherwise get on China Air and get their "stuff" over there. I am boggled by the number of people who only survive if the "stuff" sells... too many people, too much "stuff" and not enough people to buy. Not a good recipe for good economics. I think Guadalajara is going to implode.