There has been a very large, shiny building under construction in David. I heard some time ago that it was going to be a market to house the merchants that are usually on the street.

Tuesday I was shopping with a friend and noticed that all the produce vendors near the municipal building were gone. Wednesday my friend said she has heard that the new market was open and she wanted to visit.

Built with goal of erecting a fundamental stronghold for the distribution and marketing of food in the province of Chiriqui. Technical administrative work developed during the Excellenct Sir President Ricardo Martinelli Berrocal (as closely as I can translate it)

The front of the building, which isn’t nearly as big as the length.

As you walk in, you see spaces for produce vendors in the center.

Everything is bright, shiny, and new.

Just inside the front door is one of the meat vendors.

The only cheese vendor I saw.

I had walked to the center of the building and looked back to see my friend with bag of maiz for tortillas.

Looking towards the back of the building is a large space which we were told will include a restaurant.

There are bathrooms, and really pretty reflections on the shiny floor and ceiling.

Along with side are spaces with refrigerated cases for meats, cheese, and whatever else needs to be kept cold.

The market is very attractive, and also very cold. The air conditioning is effective! Right now there is a ton of unused space so it will be interesting to see what happens as time goes on.

A couple people have explained to me that there are middle men who buy from the producers and sell to the consumers, and make a lot of money in the process. This market is part of an effort for products to go directly from the producer to the consumer without the expensive middle man, which will keep food prices down. Since so much food is produced in Chiriqui Province I’m not sure how much this will affect us here, but I can see how it could make a big different in other areas. I was told that these markets are being built all over the country.

I kind of miss the vendors on the street, and I think if you were getting off work or were downtown for some reason, it would be nice to just pick up what you need on your way home rather than drive elsewhere to a big market. Will this be even more difficult for the many people who don’t have cars? Will the cost of space in the new building also drive up the cost of products?

It will be interesting to see how this works out. It certainly is an attractive, clean, cool, and has tons of space. I hope the produce market down the street from us stays where it is, but I will also visit the new market from time to time if I’m in the area to see what is going on there.