I can never hate Northgate Gonzalez Markets. Its story is one of the great Orange County immigrant success tales, its aisles the first one I remember walking, the hometown of its founders–Jalostotitlán, Jalisco–always fighting for Mexican supremacy in Anaheim against Arandas, Jalisco and my El Cargadero, Jerez, Zacatecas. My mom still does a lot of her shopping there, although no longer for the best bargains–the honor for that is Super King Market in Anaheim, where she shops amongst women in hijabs for most of her Mexican produce and Middle Eastern-derived snacks. And that leads to the purpose of this post.
I went to the Northgate off Fourth Street in SanTana this past weekend, the one that was the sight of a gentrification battle over a decade ago–but that's not the purpose of this post, either. Needed eggs, and was pleasantly surprised to find they stock organic eggs (those produced by chickens fed an all-organic diet). Mexicans, of course, are the original organic foodies in Southern California, but it was nice to know that capitalists think they can make a quick buck off Mexicans in the current health-food craze.
Then I saw the price: $5.29 for a dozen large brown eggs. And that's when I realized that Northgate is ripping its prized clientele off–big time.
]
Compare Northgate Gonzalez's prices with the similar offer at Fresh N Easy–$3.78. Even at the newish Mother's Market in SanTana, which itself rips off unsuspecting gabachos too scared to go into Northgate Gonzalez or other Mexi-marts and is a pretty expensive place, the priciest dozen organic Grade A brown eggs go for $3.89–and the extra-large brown eggs still sit cheaper than Northgate's eggs at $5.19.
So, Northgate Gonzalez: ¿quN chingado pasa? Your stores make hundreds of millions of dollars in profits every year from the Reconquista–you do have an obligation to help out wabs, especially in the matters of pricing, and especially in the matter of making our obesity-prone raza eat healthier. I'll still love your tiendas, but por favor don't become like that other icon of O.C. Mexican eating entrepeneurship, Taqueria de Anda, and become a big a failed disgrace as Don Papi Pulido.
