The case of El Hueco in Medellin, Colombia, raises the question about multiple forms of capitalism coexisting in the Global South. Contrary to perceptions of anomaly or economic backwardness in certain capitalistic systems, El Hueco reveals complex economic structures where commercial, entrepreneurial, informal, and formal actors simultaneously operate within the same territory. Through the qualitative analysis of business practices and networks, this chapter argues that formal institutions are not absent, period, but rather substituted by mechanisms based on trust, family networks, and community-based reputation systems. This creative institutional substitution represents a functional and adaptive form of peripheral capitalism, rather than a temporary deviation from an idealized model. Thus, the case facilitates theorizing from the periphery, challenging unitary visions of capitalism and enriching debates on practices, networks, informality, institutionality, and economic organization in the Global South.