Mercado Unidad Rastro

The Mercado Unidad Rastro is a giant neighborhood market within a neighborhood dedicated principally to butcher products. While this is not likely to inspire a lot of international visits, it does provide a fascinating angle to the history of the growth of Mexico City.

The Colonia Felipe Ángeles dates from the end of the Porfiriato, that is, the late 19th century. Construction began in 1885 on a replacement for the old stockyards at San Lucas, on the other side of Mexico City. It was to last for the next ten years. But services in the surrounding area were so poor that it wasn’t able to stay open. It closed just two years later.

When the facility finally re-opened in 1905, it still lacked functioning drains and other essentials. The neighborhood we see today remained but a swampland between the Villa de Guadalupe and Mexico City to the south. It would wait decades for the early industrialization of the area to grow up around it.

By the 1950, Mexico City authorities had all but given up on the new stockyards. Most operations were shifted to the giant new Ferrería facility in Azcapotzalco. Today the giant market counts some 717 individual vendors, inside. But visitors will notice many more in the surrounding streets. This much smaller market opened as the Mercado Unidad Rastro in the 1960s after the larger stockyards facility closed permanently in 1954. Leather workers, also displaced by the closing, were relocated to the Central Mercado de Zapatos. They remain there to this day.

Today, it’s a valuable part of the neighborhood that grew up around it. And the market sells much more than butcher goods. Even still, a bulk of the business is with restaurateurs who come from across the City for better prices, and often, for lunch too. It’s also a good home base for those exploring the surrounding tianguis which stretches from the streets of the Colonia Maza all the way to the west.

Hours: Daily, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.