Sam's Club?

I have heard that Tobolandia has sold the garden center property (right next door to them) to Sam's Club. Anyone else hear this?

I heard the rumor but not the source of it. I don't see there's enough of a customer base for it.

They do like to locate them near their Walmart stores, but I agree pretty low odds there would be enough of a customer base.

The rumor is widespread and getting wider but alas don't know if its true.

Z

I agree about the customer base however I thought the same thing when they talked about putting in WalMart. It seems to do quite well.

I love that vivero and I hope it never happens. But, it might. The land is for sale and at a high price. I know a woman who works there and we have been talking about doing a gardening project together as she is anxious to get something else going in case he does sell.

She says it's been for sale for a long time but the price has always driven people off. She also said (2 weeks ago) that she does not know of anything definite happening and hasn't heard anything new from her boss, she's been there a long time and he treats the employees well.

I did not know this man also owns the Tobolandia property, she never mentioned that. Just the nursery alone is a huge chunk of land. It's a rampant rumor, and I suppose if S'sC is willing to pay his price, he will sell it to them.

Anybody know of any houses for rent out in San Nicolas area??? <joke>

I believe the same guy owns Tobolandia, the garden center, those old strawberry fields above Tobolandia and the land they tried to put the 4x4 park on. This is what I was told by the manager of Tobolandia when I used to deal with them for the Chili Cook Off. I understood that the whole enchilada was for sale but they did a deal for just the garden center portion........but who knows. I am wondering if the garden center portion is even big enough for a Sam's Club and all the parking.

That's a good question, I hope not. Is the Tobolandia business profitable?

I think that building a Sam's Club, or any other stores at the bottom of the hill could be a recipe for disaster....just last week, this happened.

http://www.theguadalajarareporter.com/index.php/news/news/lake-chapala/48846-deft-truck-driver-avoids-serious-accident-at-libramiento-junction

Can you imagine walking across the parking lot with your shopping cart loaded to the hilt, and you see something like that heading straight for you?

Unless something's changed recently, Tobolandia and Vivero Exotica are distinctly differently owned properties.  The vivero is owned by the same entity that has the ownership of Centro Laguna followed by several layers of "names".

Sam's Club has not done well in Mexico. Drive by Costco with a full parking lot and Sam's with 1/4 the cars. I suspect Mexicans are savvy enough to realize they can buy junk from Sam's or quality products from Costco for a few pesos more.

slainte39 wrote:Unless something's changed recently, Tobolandia and Vivero Exotica are distinctly differently owned properties.  The vivero is owned by the same entity that has the ownership of Centro Laguna followed by several layers of "names".

Perhaps the Tobolandia fellow is also one of those names?

CanuckBob wrote:

slainte39 wrote:Unless something's changed recently, Tobolandia and Vivero Exotica are distinctly differently owned properties.  The vivero is owned by the same entity that has the ownership of Centro Laguna followed by several layers of "names".

Perhaps the Tobolandia fellow is also one of those names?

I was referring to Centro Laguna, not the vivero, which has had the same owner for years. Tobolandia is/was the domain of the Barragan Family.

juanrey wrote:They do like to locate them near their Walmart stores, but I agree pretty low odds there would be enough of a customer base.

Oh, I don´t know about the lack of an adequate customer base and I say that as one who greatly prefers Costco over Sam´s Club although I visit neither frequently. As we live in both Ajiic and San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, we have seen Walmex establish a Sam´s Club within a city with a limited customer base as in the case of their store in San Cristóbal, an isolated, high mountain, economically deprived, city of 130,000+/- souls with, in general, limited resources, in the Chiapas Highlands surrounded by only Mayan indigenous communities famously poverty stricken. Interestingly, Sam´s indigenous customer base is its sales foundation down there as indigenous communities recurringly send designated emissaries to the San Cristóbal store to buy in bulk for the community as a whole. One cannot visit the Sam´s Club store in San Cristóbal without witnessing these indigenous representatives buying prolifically all sorts of consumer goods on behalf of others in the community and Sam´s local management personnel both know and encourage this practice. . There is no Walmart in San Cristóbal and the Sam´s Club store sits astride a large Bodega Aurerra which most of you know is Walmart´s discount outlet intended for a less affluent (pardon the understatement) crowd. There is most assuredly a more affluent and extensive customer base within, say, 40 kilometers of the possible location of a Sam´s Club in Ajijic than within 40 kilometers of Central San Cristóbal and Sam´s seems to have flourished down there in Chiapas. I propose that a Sam´s Club is a natural in Ajijic adjacent to the present Walmart but I personally do not care since I am a bit put off by that retailer. Now, Costco, I would welcome unequivocally.

The rumor is not true.