Developing Country: A Continuing Series – Entrepreneurial Ubiquity

As I posted earlier, in my research of the informal economy I've been spending time in the open markets visiting merchants of all types.  There are many reasons for the numerous merchant/entrepreneur, some driven by necessity and others driven by the best profit opportunity, but there are people selling things everywhere.  Any place where people gather, you will find people selling agricultural products, household items, clothing, etc.

In addition to the guy (or very often woman) sitting on the street corner displaying their wares, the Magazins are almost on every corner (think mini convenience store).  These are stand alone sheds, or small stores built into the side of a building, and they are available everywhere to provide food items (mostly) in all areas of this city.  Everyone where I have been in the city, there is one of these Magazins (also called an Alamentara) within a few minutes walk.  From our house we can walk to four of these stores in one to three minutes.  One of them sells bread, cured meats, dairy products, canned goods, alcohol, ice cream, cookies, etc. and another will sell mostly produce, and another fresh meat.

I'm still learning about the structure and organization of these myriad entrepreneurial ventures.  Some of the merchants in the open markets have a permit to sell, and the overall market is regulated to some extent by the government.  But, there are many merchants on the street especially in the areas around the open markets.  These street merchants often set up shop on their own, and in many areas they are illegally operating.  This seems to frustrate those that operate with a permit, but there is no enforcement to kick out the non-permitted merchants and if the police do happen by they are easily bribed to move on.

The picture above is favorite shop located about a minute from our house.  It is a little shop that sells Moldovan wine from a vineyard about 45 kilometers away.  The sign says Regresar and I'm sure something is lost in translation because it literally means regression.  This wine is quite good and very inexpensive so we're enjoying this local convenience.