Last May 24th, a handful of members of CANACO (Cámara Nacional de Comercio) traveled to Phoenix for a special meeting. The chamber was invited by the Costco Business Center to visit their facilities. As vice president of the Chamber of Commerce, I found the meeting very productive since it allows members of Canaco in Puerto Peñasco additional benefits in their membership with Costco.

Other cities were also invited, there were people from Hermosillo, Nogales, Agua Prieta, San Luis Río Colorado and so forth, an area of Costco had been decorated with both Mexican and USA flags and balloons in the Mexican national colors, green, red and white.

They arranged for a small program, Patricia Jimenez took the lead as the Marketing supervisor in welcoming everybody, then Greg Stanton, the Mayor of Phoenix, was introduced to give a meaningful talk about how much the city of Phoenix needs the business of Mexico. He talked about the project Phoenix has of making Hermosillo its sister city, and also of the eight times he has been to Sonora in the last two years highlighting how safe Mexico is.

Univision, the Spanish TV network was there, broadcasting the event. Costco hired a chef who served us lunch and we toured the warehouse. While we shopped for some items, they explained the different ways in which we can buy from them; we can go to the warehouse and pick up our purchases or we can submit an order online (or by phone) which can be just one single item, or as much as a semi-truck full at different levels of prices.

Among my duties as vice president of CANACO is to look for ways to help my fellow members of the Chamber to save money and to improve their ways in which they can be better at their individual businesses. Just recently I gave a brief presentation to members of the board about how to avoid double taxation. If you own a business in Mexico but have the need to import USA goods into Mexico then there is a way for you not to pay USA sales tax on your goods.

I will be delivering the same presentation in the future at the offices of CANACO behind the Shrimp Plaza by the city hall. If you are interested in joining the Chamber and are also interested in how to validate in the USA your Mexican RFC (tax number) you can email me at eddiewharez@yahoo.com and I will gladly help you in the process.

CANACO is also promoting a program called “Si en Peñasco compramos todos ganamos” (If we buy in Peñasco we all end up winning) in which all businesses participating give their customers a ticket for every $150 pesos of purchases. On Sept 5, those tickets will be raffled off and gifts of electronics, appliances, and home goods, etc. will be given out. If you want to bring residents of Puerto Peñasco to your business perhaps you can buy a package that suits your needs best, again, you can send me an email or contact me on my cell (638) 384-0066 and I will give you more details and answer your questions.

At this time I really want to thank you for reading my column every month. It is always very nice for me to know your comments concerning what I talk about here.

Remember to pay me a visit, either at my interior design center on Rodeo Drive, ‘Diseños Casa y Jardín’, or if you are hungry and long for delicious Sonoran dishes then join us at Bacanora Grill in the marina area where the sunset cruise ships are boarded. Bacanora is open Thursday to Monday from 1-9 pm.

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Muchas gracias! I will be looking forward to hearing from you!

Written by Eddie Wharez®