Private Grocery Stores Emerge in Cuba, But Prices Out of Reach for Many

Newly Legalized Small and Medium Businesses Struggle to Prosper Amid Economic Crisis

Small and medium-sized private grocery stores, known as 'mipymes', have been rapidly emerging across Cuba, offering a variety of products not available elsewhere.
Despite their popularity, the prices at these stores are unaffordable for many Cubans, including professionals like doctors and teachers.
Customers who can afford these stores are usually those who receive remittances from abroad, tourism workers, diplomats, employees of other small businesses, artists and athletes.
Most of the products in these stores are imported by the entrepreneurs themselves through state-run import agencies, leading to the emergence of larger, better-stocked stores, such as the 'Cuban Costco'.
For the first time in 60 years, small and medium-sized private corporations are now authorized by law in Cuba, marking a significant shift in the country's socialist economic model.