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Mesones Street begins school season with delays; becomes a sea of backpacks and notebooks
🇲🇽 Mexico /Culture & Society

Mesones Street begins school season with delays; becomes a sea of backpacks and notebooks

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified Context piece
  • Mesones Street in Mexico City's Historic Center is overwhelmed with shoppers buying school supplies, causing traffic disruptions.
  • Families report longer school supply lists and higher prices compared to previous years, particularly for hygiene items and specific notebook brands.
  • Some vendors note a delayed start to the back-to-school shopping season, attributing it partly to the recent World Cup, with sales not meeting expectations.

Mesones Street in Mexico City's Historic Center has transformed into a bustling marketplace as hundreds of people flock to buy school supplies, two weeks before the new academic year begins. The sheer volume of shoppers has led to significant traffic disruptions, with pedestrians and vendors occupying vehicle lanes, creating a sea of large bags and stacks of notebooks.

Prices are very similar (compared to last year) but the school supply list is getting longer and longer, they are asking for more things.

— Iram BuendíaA mother describes the increasing demands and costs associated with school supplies for her daughters.

Families are facing increasingly extensive school supply lists and escalating prices. Iram Buendía, who traveled from Tláhuac, noted that while prices are comparable to last year, the quantity of items requested has grown. Dafen also observed price increases, highlighting that hygiene products like paper towels and hand sanitizer, along with specific brands of notebooks, have become notably more expensive. Some notebooks that previously cost 50 pesos now reach up to 100 pesos.

The most expensive items are hygiene products like paper towels, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper. Also notebooks, now they ask for a specific brand, they used to cost 50 pesos, now up to 100 pesos each.

— DafenA shopper details the rising costs of specific school supply items.

One mother preparing her son for third-grade kindergarten estimated her school supply expenses at 3,800 pesos, not including uniforms, books, tuition, backpacks, and shoes. This reflects the substantial financial commitment required for the upcoming school year.

Before we started (selling) in July, but now people have only come in August.

— GiovanniA stationery store owner explains the delayed start to the back-to-school shopping season.

Vendors, like Giovanni from Papelerías Del Moral, have experienced a slower start to the season, usually beginning in July but only picking up in August this year, possibly due to the recent World Cup. He mentioned that sales have not been as strong as anticipated, despite his efforts to keep prices stable by stocking up months in advance. The overall sentiment among some sellers is that the season has not yet reached its expected peak.

Sales have not been as they were in previous years, it hasn't taken off as we expected.

— GiovanniA stationery store owner expresses disappointment with current sales figures for school supplies.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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