If you think you can get away from the big box retail chains by moving to Mexico, think again. Walmart is the largest private employer in Mexico. Since expanding to Mexico in 1991, Walmart de Mexico has grown to sales of $18 billion by the end of 2007 according to MMR. No matter where you go in Mexico, you will likely see a Walmart Superstore, Sam's Club, or other retail outlets that it operates such as Superama, Suburbia, Bodega Aurrera, and even the restaurant chain VIP. Rueters reports that Walmex operates over a thousand outlets in Mexico. Home Depot also has a strong presence in Mexico. As of May they had 69 stores with nine more planned to open this year. Costco currently has 31 stores in Mexico. For some expatriates, American retailers may be a familiar place where they have confidence they can find the necessities they need. "I was expecting a lot of the products I was accustomed to buying to be unavailable, but there are a lot of American retail and restaurant chains here. You can shop at Office Depot, Office Max, Home Depot, Walmart, and Sam’s Club. There is also Dairy Queen, Subway, Burger King, McDonald’s, Dominoes, and Applebee’s" said Jennifer Swarts an expatriate living in Mazatlan. We also talked to the author of the Rivergirl blog about how difficult it is to get goods that you want in Mexico. "Each day it gets easier here to get the goods I want," she said. "But there are still items I have to bring back from the U.S. most especially books in English. I also cannot get Saucony running shoes here and for the life of me I cannot find clothing I like here. Clothing here is generally expensive to buy but cheaply made, so I bring clothes back from the U.S."  Most tourist destinations also have large shopping malls like Cancun's La Isla Shopping Village which features 150 shops, an aquarium, a disco, and a river ride tour on a series of canals. For others, big box retailers can diminish the authenticity of living in a foreign culture and would much rather shop at a local Mexican market. Those who are trying to get away from the consumerism that big box retailers have come to represent, will want to avoid areas with large American populations like Cabo where the American fast food chains and retailers are becoming more ubiquitous everyday. The influx of dollars from baby boomers moving south and a growing middle class in Mexico will likely mean that large multinationals will want to increase their presence in Mexico and that can be good or bad, depending on how much you enjoy shopping at the largest retailers like Walmart.