By: Valentina Castaño
Have you ever noticed that in the center of Medellín, stores that sell similar products are usually located in the same area? At first glance this may seem like a terrible sales strategy, as it puts all the competition close. However, the explanation makes perfect sense.
This phenomenon in which stores that sell the same products are grouped together in a certain area is known as “agglomeration” or “clustering” and there are several reasons why it happens.
Among them is, for example, the issue of economies of scale. He means that when several stores that sell similar products are grouped together in the same sector, they can share logistics and supply costs.
“Synergy and competition are also important. When there are stores of the same type nearby, there can be positive alliances and an increase in competition that tends to encourage owners to improve their products to stand out from the rest,” explains Manuela Cardona, an economist at Eafit University.
Likewise, another of the reasons behind the “clustering” in the center, and the one that its merchants highlight the most, is the attraction of the target audience. When consumers know they can find a variety of similar options in one place, they are more likely to visit that specific area when shopping.
“If someone goes looking for lamps, they come here, so it’s much easier for them to find me here than hiding alone somewhere else. The competition is next door, but one stands out with a good assortment, it is easy for the buyer to quote in different stores and if the one who arrives does not have what they are looking for, then they go to where you are or to the neighbor”, says Joaquín Morales, administrator of a light and electricity store in Tenerife.
Buyers also agree that this is the most beneficial part of downtown clustering. “Let’s say you’re looking for a specific type of ring, but you don’t know which jewelry store handles it. Instead of walking a lot from store to store asking questions, here they are next to each other. Sometimes it even happens to me that a place does not have what I want, but there they tell me where else I can look for it. It seems to me that it works very well”, says Marcela Carmona Reyes, a frequent buyer of the center.
Therefore, contrary to being a bad market strategy, agglomeration offers advantages both for the stores and for the customers and suppliers involved.
Products by sectors in the center of Medellín
Thus, knowing the location of these commercial sectors greatly benefits those who want to make their purchases in Comuna 10. Here are some of them:
Lights, lamps and electricity
If you are interested in finding light bulbs, LED hoses, lights of all colors or solutions in terms of electricity, in Carrera Tenerife, from Plazuela de Zea to Avenida Colombia, you will have endless stores where you can do it.
Patches, appliqués and other textile products
These products are concentrated in Carrera 53 with Calle 49, mainly on the first floor of the Shanghai shopping center.
Tennis, urban and sportswear
Although throughout the center you can find stores that sell clothing and footwear, in the National Palace, located on the pedestrian street Carabobo, there are those that have tennis shoes and type garments. sport.
In Carrera Sucre, from Calle 49 to Calle 55, visitors will have at their disposal more than six blocks with dozens of opticians that offer a variety of ophthalmology and optometry services.
If you are looking for a variety of fish species, tanks, food or other supplies for the care of these animals, in Sucre, between Calles 55 and 57, you can find different stores with these products.
Cigar stores and liquor and candy distributors are traditional to the recently pedestrianized street known as La Alhambra, located at Carrera 52 A, between Calles 45 and 46.
These products can be obtained in the vicinity of the Cisneros station, mainly on carreras 56, 56 B and 57.
In the sector of the San Antonio Metro station is San Andresito Principal. This multi-story shopping center, located on Calle 46 with carrera 51 A, is full of jewelry stores that sell gold, silver and other precious metals and stones.
In the La Bastilla passage, the same one that used to be a messy alley where all kinds of books were sold on the street, is now the Book and Culture Shopping Center. There, visitors can find numerous bookstores with a wide range of books.
If you need printing, stamping, advertising design or other lithographic services, the place to go is Carrera 45, known as El Palo, between Calle 44, San Juan, and Calle 45.
Fabrics by the kilo, cotton, linen, stuffing for pillows and cushions, are some of the products offered to customers on Calle 49, between Carreras Tenerife and Cundinamarca.
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