Without electricity, businesses stop selling and stop accepting all types of money
14ymedio, Julio César Contreras, Matanzas, 25 June 2025 -The pattern repeats itself. In any city where a dollar store opens, businesses in freely convertible currency (MLC) accelerate their decline. Matanzas could not be any different, and the Ten Cent store on Medio Street is the latest example of this silent struggle that runs through the commercial fabric. Almost empty, it now appears that the spacious store’s days are numbered.
Since the beginning of April, three stores in the city have switched to foreign currency sales. La Matancera, La Reina, and La Atenas de Cuba were chosen to join the group of markets across the island that sell in dollars or with the Classic Card. The old Ten Cent, renamed Centro Comercial Variedades decades ago, was not included on that list, and since then, its offerings have only diminished.
Some of the products that were previously on the shelves of the market in MLC moved to La Atenas de Cuba, located a few meters away, on Callejón de la Sacristía, at the corner of Milanés. The direction to strip one saint to pay another came from “on high,” according to an employee of the disgraced store who spoke to 14ymedio. Thus, boxes and boxes of merchandise changed both their location and the currency in which they were sold.
“This looks like a gym without people,” a customer could be heard saying this Monday morning as she browsed the spacious sports equipment area in the former Ten Cent. The white granite floor, high ceilings, and a strong, musty smell give the market the appearance of a rarely visited museum. Stationary bikes for 280 MLC, along with beach umbrellas, were among the few offerings.
The neglect and disorganization extend to the rest of the store, where the most visited space isn’t the counter with cleaning supplies or the appliance area, but the place where customers can leave their bags. The dynamism is due to the fact that some Matanzas residents store their backpacks and purses there when they want to enter other nearby stores that have restrictions on access with bags or packages. Few even head inside the Variety section.
However, when the blackout hits, the lack of electricity affects both establishments equally. Without power, the workers at La Atenas de Cuba halt sales, and the hard cash dollars stop flowing into their cash registers. The old Ten Cent also sinks further into stagnation. Without electricity, the gap narrows, and both businesses are just two dark, empty buildings.
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