Amigo Supermarkets ( es, Supermercados Amigo) is a chain of supermarkets located in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and owned by

Pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

History

In the 1920s, ''Supermercados Amigo'' was opened by Jose Marti Fuentes. During the company's formative years, it operated small supermarkets across the island; these would be located at small strip malls. Many towns in

had multiple ''Supermercados Amigo'' locations.

The transformation

After the

Grand Union A grand union is a rail track junction where two double-track railway or tramway lines cross at grade, often in a street intersection or crossroads. A total of sixteen railroad switches (sets of points) allow streetcars (or in rarer installati ...

and Coop Supermarkets companies ceased operations in Puerto Rico, ''Amigo'' began plans to become a major player in Puerto Rico's supermarket industry. In 1989, they opened their first major store, located at

Plaza del Carmen Mall Plaza del Carmen Mall is a two-story enclosed shopping mall in Caguas, Puerto Rico. History Originally starting Its development in 1972, Plaza del Carmen Mall opened to the public during the mid 1970s. During the 1980s, it hosted such stores an ...

, in

Caguas Caguas (, ) is a city and municipality of Puerto Rico located in the Central Mountain Range of Puerto Rico, south of San Juan and Trujillo Alto, west of Gurabo and San Lorenzo, and east of Aguas Buenas, Cidra, and Cayey. Caguas was founded ...

. Subsequently, many other major stores were opened across Puerto Rico. A massive

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

campaign began, and their slogan, ''Amigo, lo mejor al mejor precio'' (''Amigo, the best at the best prices'') became a household phrase in Puerto Rico.

Economic problems

Amigo ran into serious economic problems in the 1990s, most of them having to do with employee salary. As a consequence, the company began losing money. There were several

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

s, and these received wide media attention.

Walmart acquisition

In July 2002,

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

retail giant

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

purchased Supermercados Amigo, in what became a controversial business move. Claims of

unfair competition Unfair may refer to: * Double Taz and Double LeBron James in multiverses ''fair''; unfairness or injustice * ''Unfair'' (drama), Japanese television series * '' Unfair: The Movie'' * Unfair (song), a song by South Korean boy group EXO