Waldo's (officially Waldo's Dólar Mart de México S. de R.L. de C.V., Waldo's L.L.C.) is a privately held company operating three chains of retail stores. The namesake chain Waldo's consists of more than 800 discount stores across Mexico as of May 2023, with a merchandise selection similar to that of a dollar store in the United States, although without focusing on a specific single price point (or multiple thereof). Most products are priced between 9.99 and 29.99 pesos, about US$0.60 to US$1.75 as of December 2023.[1]
Other chains are Eleczión for clothing with 200 stores (Dec. 2023),[2] and Waldo's Motos carrying motorcycles.
Until 2023 the company was based in Tijuana, but in May of that year it moved its headquarters to Mexico City.[3]
In 1999, Waldo's opened four stores in Tijuana, a large city along the border on the U.S. border next to San Diego, using the U.S. dollar store model.[4]
From 4 stores in Baja California by 2005, it had grown to 147 stores in 21 of the 31 Mexican states. In 2022, Waldo's opened its 500th store in Mexico.
In May 2023, the company announced that:[5]
Products carried are similar to dollar stores in the U.S.:[6]
Since 2022, Waldo's also has separate stores branded Waldo's Motos selling motorcycles, thus competing with top retailer Elektra.[7] [8]
Waldo's acknowledged in a 2023 interview that its entry into e-commerce in late 2020 was "very late". It offers online sales via its website waldos.com.mx and also has a mobile app. As of 2023, the company states that it has about 12,000 e-commerce transactions a month, increasing to about 20,000 a month nearer the year-end holidays, and that the average e-commerce transaction is about 6 times larger than in-store transactions. Its e-commerce product range is wider than in stores, with a much wider selection of products especially in certain categories such as small and large appliances, travel-related products, homewares, home decor and special offers.[9]
Waldo's offers both a credit card, as well as international money transfers to Mexico with cash pickup at Waldo's stores,[10] and runs the foundation Corazones con Vizión.
Waldo's has distribution centers in Lerma, Guadalajara, and Tijuana. The retailer had about 9,000 direct employees as of May 2023.
According to the Waldo's website in December 2023, stores are distributed as follows across the 32 federal entities (31 states plus Mexico City):
| State/Federal Entity | Eleczion stores | Waldos stores | Grand Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baja California | 7 | 59 | 66 | ||
| Tamaulipas | 9 | 42 | 51 | ||
| Coahuila | 11 | 39 | 50 | ||
| Nuevo Leon | 5 | 42 | 47 | ||
| Chihuahua | 12 | 34 | 46 | ||
| Jalisco | 11 | 33 | 44 | ||
| Veracruz | 18 | 22 | 40 | ||
| Sonora | 11 | 29 | 40 | ||
| Mexico | 7 | 27 | 34 | ||
| Guanajuato | 9 | 23 | 32 | ||
| Sinaloa | 8 | 20 | 28 | ||
| Michoacan | 12 | 16 | 28 | ||
| Baja California Sur | 5 | 20 | 25 | ||
| Quintana Roo | 6 | 16 | 22 | ||
| Tabasco | 10 | 11 | 21 | ||
| Ciudad De Mexico | 21 | 21 | |||
| Chiapas | 14 | 4 | 18 | ||
| Yucatan | 5 | 9 | 14 | ||
| Puebla | 9 | 5 | 14 | ||
| Guerrero | 4 | 10 | 14 | ||
| Durango | 13 | 13 | |||
| San Luis Potosi | 6 | 5 | 11 | ||
| Morelos | 2 | 8 | 10 | ||
| Zacatecas | 2 | 7 | 9 | ||
| Hidalgo | 3 | 6 | 9 | ||
| Colima | 8 | 8 | |||
| Queretaro | 1 | 6 | 7 | ||
| Oaxaca | 4 | 3 | 7 | ||
| Aguascalientes | 2 | 5 | 7 | ||
| Nayarit | 3 | 3 | 6 | ||
| Campeche | 3 | 2 | 5 | ||
| Tlaxcala | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Grand Total | 200 | 549 | 749 |