Forums > Specific Focus > Mexican Kitchen

DavidMcL / Moderator

Jan 28, 2009, 9:06 AM

Post #1 of 11 (5561 views)

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Chinese, Ley and Soriana

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There is an article in Mexico connect about the Chinese immigration to Mexico . . .
http://www.mexconnected.com/...icindex.html#chinese

Enjoy!

David
David McL
WebJefe

(This post was edited by Rolly on Jan 29, 2009, 8:21 AM)

thriftqueen

Jan 28, 2009, 11:20 AM

Post #2 of 11 (5543 views)

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Re: [DavidMcL] ¡me encanta caldo de res!

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A couple of years ago I read an article on the Ley family who established the Ley grocery chain. Ley stores are very big in northern Mexico. I googled and found a similar copy of their story. If the link doesn't work maybe someone can fix it or google, Chinese in Mexico. I love their story of success. Here is the link: http://chinese-mexico.blogspot.com/...ents-immigrants.html

Rolly

Jan 28, 2009, 11:40 AM

Post #3 of 11 (5540 views)

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Re: Ley vs Soriana

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In Lerdo we have a Ley directly across the street from a Soriana. The difference could not be more striking. The Soriana parking lot typically has two or three times as many cars. Even more telling is what greets one's nose upon entering Ley -- it smells bad. I hope this is not typical for the chain. I tried shopping there a couple of times, but no more.

Rolly Pirate

(This post was edited by Rolly on Jan 28, 2009, 11:41 AM)

thriftqueen

Jan 28, 2009, 12:01 PM

Post #4 of 11 (5534 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Ley vs Soriana

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Ley has two stores in Navojoa where we do all our major shopping. One is a new store on the highway to Alamos. Too bad your Ley is not up to par. Ley's older stores remind me of the old timey grocery stores when I was a child, one could do one stop shopping at those old stores. Three or four years ago Soriana came in to Navojoa. Your description of Ley in Lerdo would be my description of Soriana (smelly) in Navojoa. Their restrooms are atrocious, smelly, dirty and no toilet seats (when I find a toilet without a proper seat I think a man must be responsible, LOL.)

bournemouth

Jan 28, 2009, 1:10 PM

Post #5 of 11 (5527 views)

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Re: [thriftqueen] Ley vs Soriana

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The Ley in Guaymas used to be truly disgusting until Soriana came to town - then they tried to clean up their act - which means they knew there was a problem but as long as they were the only game around, it didn't matter.

morgaine7

Jan 28, 2009, 2:13 PM

Post #6 of 11 (5522 views)

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Re: [thriftqueen] Ley vs Soriana

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Interesting stories. I didn't know the Chinese connection with the Ley chain. We have two Ley supermarkets in La Paz. The closest one to me is similar to Rolly's and also has excruciatingly slow checkout (not enough registers open at any given time). They have some good deals and not a bad selection of merchandise, and the parking lot is nearly always busy. But WalMart just arrived here, so we'll see what happens.

We have the Cantonese type of Chinese restaurants described by others. Some aren't bad, but I'm a Szechuan fan.

Kate

Anonimo

Jan 29, 2009, 2:05 AM

Post #7 of 11 (5500 views)

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Re: [DavidMcL] ¡me encanta caldo de res!

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Maybe it would be cool to split off the discussion of Chinese immigration to Mexico (and the Ley supermarket chain) from the ¡me encanta caldo de res! topic.

Saludos,
Anonimo

sergiogomez

Jan 29, 2009, 7:56 AM

Post #8 of 11 (5488 views)

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Re: [Anonimo] ¡me encanta caldo de res!

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Buena idea, Anónimo!

Rolly

Jan 29, 2009, 8:25 AM

Post #9 of 11 (5477 views)

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Chinese, Ley and Soriana

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Done.

Rolly Pirate

mazatlanlee

Jan 29, 2009, 2:46 PM

Post #10 of 11 (5455 views)

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Re: [Rolly] Chinese, Ley and Soriana

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A bit of trivia regarding the LEY name. It was explained to me by our Chinese-Mexican insurance agent that the original Chinese name was LEE. (guess why we were discussing this subject). The Mexican-Spanish way of pronouncing LEE is LEY... voila.... new name for the Chinese co-owners of the chain of grocery stores that originated (if I'm remembering correctly) in Culiacan, Sinaloa. When we first started making friends in Mazatlan, they would spell my name, 'Li'.... now, they all accept that I have a weird way of spelling a word that should be spelled Li. When I meet new people and introduce myself, they sometimes ask if I'm Chinese.

Ok, back to the subject at hand ;}

Li .... errrrr, Lee
Lee's Photos: Beyond the Guardrails

MitchMan

Mar 8, 2009, 11:43 AM

Post #11 of 11 (5327 views)

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Re: [mazatlanlee] Chinese, Ley and Soriana

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Hi,
I have a funny story to tell. Last year in La Paz I stayed at a Chinese hotel/restaurant by the name of "Nuevo Pekin". It is Chinese owned and run. When I checked in and out, the young Chinese girl who didn't speak any English but was fluent in both Chinese and Spanish, handled my admittance. My Spanish is not perfect, but we tried the process in Spanish. I couldn't understand her. I figured it was mostly my fault, not hers as she lives there, while at the time, I was only visiting the city. Anyway, I though about the problem, then I went back there the next time about a month later and I very carefully listened to her speak. I heard her communicate in Chinese to her father and then I heard her speak to the Mexican busboy. A Ha! I found the problem. She had a strong Chinese accent when spoke Spanish. Especially with the "R's". Right! In Spanish, the language is replete with the trilled "R". But, when she spoke, her "R's" were pronounced as "L"! When she said dog, or "pero" in Spanish, it came out as "pelo" or hair as translated to English. That was my problem in understanding her.

The whole thing seems really funny to me. Oh, I asked her what her name was. She looked at me straight in the eyes and said very crisply, "Lupe". I don't know, I thought that was funny also as I have never met anyone Chinese with a Spanish name before.