Source: Diário do Comércio - SP, 15/07/2009

Paulo Pampolin / Hype Clédio Queiroz, from Duque de Caxias: “With everything in one place, he will search”.

All told, there are 59 streets that have some kind of specialization in 51 segments. Almost as much as the number of shopping malls in the city, which are over 60. Some are small, such as Rua do Seminário, in the center, which has only five shops specializing in hats. Others are huge, grouping dozens of establishments, such as Santa Ifigênia, which offers about 500 stores with everything in electronics. Nobody knows the number of stores on the specialized streets, but they concentrate a good part of the 240 thousand stores in the city. The logic is repeated by all traders: when you have a specialized street, consumers are attracted by the possible variety within the same theme and improve everyone's movement.

“Each store has a certain specialty,” says Clédio Queiroz, from Queiroz Acessórios, on Rua Duque de Caxias, which specializes in auto parts. “The customer has more options. And with everything in one place, he will search ”.

From the inexpensive jewelry of 25 de Março to the wedding dresses of São Caetano and imported cars, you can find everything you are looking for. And in fact consumers find it, so much so that every year R $ 91 billion reais change hands on these streets - three times the budget of the City Hall.

It is not for less. Choose a branch and there will be a specialized street. Florêncio de Abreu, in the center, is synonymous with tools and machines. Only with drills, there are about a hundred models. Nearby, Paula Souza is recognized by professional and amateur chefs as the best address for purchasing kitchen equipment. In Tabatinguera street there are soaps, essences and sachets at unbeatable prices. Anyone who is passionate about motorcycles has to pass General Osório, in which there are carbon fiber gloves and different handlebars. Santa Ifigênia has any computer product in offers that beat any major magazine. And on the 25th of March there is, say, any product at incredible prices, so much so that caravans and excursions are organized in other neighborhoods, other cities and even in other countries to shop there.

There is no similar experience in other cities in the world. Not on the São Paulo scale. There are some such streets in other countries, such as Bloemenmarkt in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, which specializes in flowers sold in boats; Chapel Street in Melbourne, Australia, fashion; Guangzhou Road in Guangzhou, China, known for selling jade products. There are many flea and open air markets in several cities, but they are streets that sell everything. There is hardly as much specialization as in São Paulo.

What is very common are the luxury shopping streets. A study by Excellence Mystery Shopping International, which brings together market research institutes from various countries, reminiscent of traditional addresses such as Champs-Élysées in Paris, Fifth Avenue in New York, New Bond Street in London and Deira City Center in Dubai (and puts our Oscar Freire in 8th place worldwide). Streets specializing in luxury commerce emerged in Europe in the 19th century, bringing together manufacturers of high-quality products for personal use - as opposed to mass production resulting from the industrial revolution. They had their peak between the 1930s and 1960s, but lost prestige in the following decades, returning to recover it in recent years.

Less comfort, better price

In the luxury streets of São Paulo, such as Oscar Freire, there are impeccable bathrooms (which helped a lot to earn the international distinction), courtesy to the extreme, coffee and water for customers. In the other specialized streets, there is not always much comfort, service can be time consuming and there is no coffee for anyone. Compared to shopping malls, says Paulo Garcia, director of the Santa Ifigênia Neighborhood Merchants Association (ACSI), parking is more distant, which is not good on rainy days. Security is not exactly like that of a shopping mall - in particular, there are no closed spaces - but shopkeepers are quoted and hire area staff, which can be seen practically on every corner. And, after all, say merchants who do not want to identify themselves, there are already records of robberies also in large shopping centers.

But commerce in the specialized streets of São Paulo, Garcia recalls, offers the best prices, which makes up for everything. The price matters almost exclusively - which explains the large number of people comparing labels and mining quality goods at a bargain price. According to the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, fierce competition makes products up to 50% cheaper than similar products sold in shopping malls.

“Everyone wants to save - agrees Marcelo Mouawad, from Comercial
Semaan, on March 25th. Even the highest income consumers ”.

According to Clédio Queiroz, who has been in the auto parts business for 56 years on Avenida Duque de Caxias, the competition does not hurt, because in his case each store has a certain specialty. And so, there are more options for customers. Too much competition generates better prices. Thus, points out Mário Rizkallah, owner of the century-old Casa da Bóia, and director of the informal Rua Florêncio de Abreu Association, there are advantages for everyone. Shopkeepers create healthy competition, trying to offer the best quality at the lowest price - those who manage to combine the two factors end up winning customers. And the consumer wins because he pays less for a high quality product.

Street vendors, ghosts at the door

One of the few complaints from street merchants is the presence of street vendors. The marreters are practically everywhere, taking the sidewalks, disrupting pedestrian traffic (consumers), sometimes creating confusion and turmoil with police intervention. And, of course, selling in some cases the same product found in commercial stores, only for even cheaper prices, because street vendors pay reduced taxes - this when they have the Term of Permission to Use (TPU). Ordinarily, the marreters do not have any permission, they just set up a small stall and start selling.

This problem is minor in places like Avenida Duque de Caxias, where it is virtually impossible for a street vendor to sell auto parts. There would be no space for that. What they sell, according to Clédio Queiroz, of Queiroz Acessórios, is one or another simple piece of equipment (such as internal mirrors or handbags) that, in a sense, do not even compete with the storeowners' products. But the problem gets much worse in places that sell everything, such as the 25th of March - then the dealers are considered a plague and definitely clog the road, harassing customers and exert unfair competition to established traders.

The bad competition is what concerns Mário Rizkallah, from Casa da Bóia. According to him, in Florêncio de Abreu many stores closed and ended up giving way to parking lots. The merchants either closed permanently and went to another activity or looked for new places in the neighborhoods, with less pollution and easier traffic: “Being a merchant in the center just because many of us are very stubborn. At the tip of the pencil, it’s very big wear, especially with street vendors ”. Not only because of the competition: there is dirt on the street. He points out that, every day, what the City collects is a huge amount. And yet the street still looks dirty.

“It would be nice to be able to solve the problem of street vendors. After all, if I pay taxes, rent and I'm subject to inspection, I want equality for everyone, ”says Rizkallah.

Between the two extremes - those who don't care and those who care a lot about traders - are traders who think there is no competition. Depends of the place. In Santa Ifigênia, for example, as Paulo Garcia, from the Association of Merchants of the Santa Ifigênia Neighborhood (ACSI), street vendors are dedicated to the trade of some products, not all that are found in stores. There is more diversity there. Garcia goes so far as to say that the dealer almost complements the tenants' movement. He has already seen consumers buy a R $ 10 trinket, and just stop in front of the window to discover that there is an interesting and inexpensive item: “Those people who buy R $ 10 from the street vendor often come in and buy R $ 500 or more”.

The big problem is when consumers buy smuggled, illegal, pirated or stolen products. Brazil is a major consumer of pirated products, which are generally rejected by outsourced factories, that is, they do not have the same quality. As they are rejected pieces, they cost infinitely less. The same problem can be considered for stolen parts, which strictly have no cost for those who distribute and can be sold for almost nothing by illegal dealers. Against everything and against everyone, however, the legal merchant on the specialized streets resists.