Recently, a discount ‘D1’ supermarket opened in Jardin, Antioquia. It is controversial, to say the least. Think of a discount chain like ALDI but without sticking to stocking only the generic stuff.
D1 is considered ‘descuento duro’ or hard discount store, and they really are. I noticed many prices at roughly half what they are in the other local supermarkets.
How do they do this? What is the reaction of the pueblo? And most importantly, what kind of haul can you get for 50 bucks?
How Is D1 So Much Cheaper?
Today I went on a second shopping spree at D1, mostly for comparison purposes. Perhaps the most shocking difference was a bag of frozen chuzitos – basically chicken kabobs. At one of the local supermarkets, the cost was 18,000 pesos (roughly 6 dollars). But at D1 the same bag only cost 9,000 pesos!
How do they do this?
D1 has a strategy. Small shops (between 250 and 300 square meters), utilizing every square inch possible, each store looking exactly the same.
No money is spent on packing up anything nicely and many items you can buy in the same boxes they were shipped in.
There isn’t any parking and bags aren’t free (but unused discarded boxes are, Costco, anyone?) and they only take cash.
They have their own line of products (again, Costco and Kirkland) and due to the high rotation of products and availability of buying so many units at a time, D1 gets very affordable rates from the product manufacturers.
The D1 Reaction – Does This Kill Small Business Or Help Spur the Economy?
A quick search online among various Colombian news organizations turned up articles like:’
- The threat of D1 to small shops – ‘La amenaza de D1 a los pequeño mercados’
- The traditional Almacenes Tía have closed. Do you want to know why? An expert explains it. – ‘Cerraron los tradicionales Almacenes Tía en el país … ¿Quiere saber por qué cerró una tradicional cadena de almacenes? Un experto se lo explica’
- The D1 phenomenon: The revolution of the discount stores – ‘El fenómeno D1: La revolución de las tiendas de descuento’
- D1 Chain has the lowest prices of all the discount stores – ‘Cadena D1 tiene los precios más bajos de las tiendas de descuento’
Talking to the local Jardíneños, they did the classic ‘hand to neck’ Paisa pose when referring to what the reaction of the other markets will be – aka they are going to be in trouble.
The personal reaction seemed mixed. Likely those that could afford to choose, see D1 invading their preferred mom and pop shop with less gentrification. Those that can’t, see how D1 can give them more buying power and potentially a higher quality of living. Personally, I love it!
My D1 Haul – What 50 Dollars Got Me at a D1 Tienda
It got me a LOT. Lots of food as well as cleaning and household items. Some of the more noteworthy items:
