In June 2020, during the pandemic, the market research firm Kantar surveyed 8,500 households across Mexico about where they would shop after the lockdown. Kantar reported that la tienda de la esquina, the corner store, was “la opción que da más confianza a los hogares” (the option that gives households the most trust). It was chosen by 56 percent, mainly in the Mexico City metropolitan area.
The magazine Chilango remembered the corner stores of earlier years. “Sabíamos el nombre de los tenderos, y ellos sabían que eras hijo del señor o la señora tal” (We knew the shopkeepers’ names, and they knew that you were the son of Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so).