Paseo Acoxpa

Paseo Acoxpa is a giant shopping center, one of the important ones in Mexico City’s giant Coapa area. Opened in 2010, the complex developers intended the site as a semi-privatized “street” with open pedestrian areas. They included access to the private Hospital Angeles Acoxpa on the northeast corner. The extra-wide design served the space especially well during the 2020-21 pandemic. Wide-open spaces and fresh air were the wave of the future.

Today the mall provides an urban alternative to Coapa’s notorious suburban residential feel. There’s still unhindered parking, but the complex also integrates some office space and plenty of open access points. There’s a giant multiplex cinema, a private gym, plenty of franchise restaurants, and the ubiquitous chain retail shops.

The Paseo was built using lots of granite paving stones, ceramic tile, and aluminum. For all that, it’s a few steps ahead of the formica and particle-board prevalent in similar shopping centers.

The mall is just across the street from the famous Villa Lázaro Cárdenas Market. While it’s a lot smaller, market vendors prepare food fresh from local sources here, and without the glossy plastic menus. On the other side, the Paseo actually abuts the parking lot of a Walmart complex which is not integrated with the tree-lined Calzada Acoxpa nor with the neighborhood.