La Tienda Panamericana Primera del Cerro in Havana has just been inaugurated under this sales approach
14ymedio, Natalia López Moya/José Lassa, Havana, 10 March 2025 — The marquee at the entrance is still broken on one side, and the steps in front of the door still show their cracks, but the interior has changed. The Panamericana Primera del Cerro Store in Havana has just been inaugurated under the practice of sales in freely convertible currency (MLC). Before opening to foreign exchange trade, the store, located on Santa Catalina Street at the corner of Vento, was not used after a long stage of deterioration offering scarce goods in national currency.
“It was a lion’s den every day,” recalls a woman who ran into a neighbor this Monday just before entering the market. Since last Thursday, the shelves no longer display the few products in Cuban pesos that were distributed by the so-called rationed “module.” Instead of the packages, semi-thawed, of chicken thighs, the tasteless El Cocinerito picadillo and the odd bag of detergent, now on the shelves you can see bottles of wine, different tomato sauces and seasonings of the American brand Goya.
When in Primera del Cerro you paid with pesos, the surroundings of the store also looked very different. “There was always a line, and it was a rare day that a fight didn’t break out,” recalls another customer who found out from a friend that you can now buy there only by paying with foreign credit cards or with the Classic and MLC cards issued by Cuban banks. No type of cash is accepted, the clerks clearly clarified as soon as she inquired: no dollar bills and much less Cuban pesos.
Unlike other markets that have recently begun to operate in dollars, on the corner of Santa Catalina only foreign currency “in plastic” is accepted, emphasizes a worker. Of course, once they’ve fulfilled this requirement, buyers can choose between several types of canned sardines or tuna from the Spanish brand HiperDino, ranging from $1.45 to $3.85 dollars a can, and Didi condensed milk at $7.50 per kilo or a small jar of Hellmann mayonnaise for $2.85. A large number of sauces from national industries fill a good part of the shelves.
For customers with more resources, there are rice cookers, washing machines and even electric ovens. “It is for use when there is electricity,” ironized a young man who entered to explore the new image of what until recently was an empty place with employees without much to do. However, there is still a lot of that past. The floor is broken in several places, the paint is still peeling on the walls, and some of the ceiling lights do not even turn on.
The dividing line between one store in MLC and another in cash dollars is also noticeable in those details. If Lincoln and Franklin rule in newly released or carefully repaired spaces, the convertible currency, which only exists in plastic and is quoted at 280 CUP to the dollar in the parallel market, must settle for buildings with broken stairs and demolished gardens.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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