AbstractsBusiness Management & Administration

The fight for space between city administrators and street vendors working in city centers is one of the major controversies about street commerce. Trying to renew and upgrade their downtowns, city administrators of most urban areas have attempted to relocate street vendors from central areas to peripheries, from the streets to indoor public markets. That attempt has almost always found fierce opposition among street vendors, who claim that entering into contact with the greatest number of pedestrians is the key to successful street vending. Most scholars studying street vendors have not questioned such a proposition; on the contrary, they have somehow taken it for granted. Yet, a comparison of four street vendor groups  – two located in the most accessible areas and two in less accessible areas of downtown Mexico City  – revels that street vendors with a more limited access to customers can obtained better working conditions and economic results than others who are located in most accessible areas. The following factors explain the better results of the street vendors located in the less accessible areas of downtown Mexico City. First, street vendors located in the less accessible areas have easier access to storage space, more room for large stalls and are less likely to have their goods confiscated by the police. These advantages provide them the possibility to increase the scale of their commerce. Second, the possibility to increase the scale of their commerce and their limited competition for space function as an incentive to expand their network of suppliers to low-cost intermediaries  – in this specific case with intermediaries involved in smuggling  – and to develop street vendor organizations that support their product specialization. Having very low prices and working in specialized street markets, the street vendors located in the less accessible areas of downtown Mexico City attract customers despite their location. In contrast, the street vendors located in the most accessible areas because of their small-scale type of commerce and because they are located in areas where street vending is officially banned but unofficially tolerated they got involved in a competition for space that constrains their profits and lead the street vendors to augment their number to gain political baking. If the city government will not support street vendors located in the most accessible areas  – in particular, if it will not act to regulate competition for space of these street vendor groups  – street trading of smuggled products will remain the best alternative for Mexico City street vendors.