ABSTRACT
A wide range of possible capitalization, from hundreds to thousands of pesos, existed among small retail grocery stores, suggesting several interesting characteristics. In Mexico City also the small retail grocery store was an opportunity for people of varied means to invest. The data for Caracas and Buenos Aires are ample enough to permit an examination of grocery store capitalizations in reference to other categories of stores. In Caracas the most important merchants, the business elite, were the comerciantes-the import-export wholesalers. In declining older of capitalization, were the tiendas de merceria, followed by the canastillas, the bodegas, the pulperias, and finally the ranchos. The central issue was, of course, profits, yet the grocers rarely alluded to them. Profitability may be calculated in either of two ways: on the basis of sales; or on the basis of capital investment. If the combined store were capitalized at 5,000 pesos, there would have been a profit of more than 50 percent on investment.
