←cont. from: The Naval Center— A Beaux-Arts Gem on Florida Street

The architectural travesty that was the 1970’s for Buenos Aires, as with many other cities in the world, is on display at Galería Jardin, Florida Street 559 . The ugly 23-floor office building is the former location of the Buenos Aires’ Jockey Club, torched in the 1950’s by militant Peronist party members.

The current high-rise atrocity was inaugurated in 1978. It’s notable because the ground floor open air gallery is Buenos Aires’ primary destination to purchase computer related equipment such as hard drives, routers and modems.

Purchasing Computer Equipment

The trick to find the best product at the best price at the garden gallery is to compare prices in a few different locales— they can vary widely and usually the stores in the rear and on the second floor tend to be cheaper. Some good bets are Datasoft, upstairs in locale 428 for patient customer service and for Mac users, Alimac in locales 371 and 385, which stocks Apple compatible products at up to half the cost of the official Apple store nearby.

Computer products, particularly those that are imported, tend to be significantly higher-priced in Argentina than in the U.S. or Europe. Many of the products are imports from China and some are black market items from Paraguay. In 2008, the daily newspaper Clarín reported a claim by an unnamed source that 80% of the 2000 PC’s sold here per year have pirated software. If making a major purchase, check to see if the store has a warranty policy.

If you have an excuse to wander up to the upper floors of the Galería Jardin office building, you can get a great bird’s eye view of the city.

→cont. reading: French-Style Architecture on Florida Street—The Argentine Rural Society

Galería Jardín
559 Florida
Downtown
Hours: Most stores open from Mon-Fri, 10am—7:30

Datasoft
Locale 428
Tel: 4393-3100

Alimac Tecnologica
Locale 385
Tel:4322-5767