Shopping in Caribbean Islands
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Swa Craft Centre
Behind the Manchester Shopping Plaza, this place trains young women to make a living from crochet, embroidery, weaving and so on. Its most appealing item is the famous ‘banana patch’ Rastafarian doll.
reviewed
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Galerías de Paseo
Across the street from the Hotel Meliá Cohiba, this place is an upscale (for Cuba) shopping center with some designer labels and even a car dealership. It sells well-made clothes and other consumer items to tourists and affluent Cubans.
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Gallery Carriacou
Gallery Carriacou boasts a fabulous array of paintings, ceramics, sculptures and other quality works of fine art by local artists. It also hosts workshops and cultural events.
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C
Fred Bernard
A more upmarket Pétionville interpretation of an artisanat shop, here you’ll find painted boxes and papier mâché, metalwork and other delights, along with current Haitian fashions.
reviewed
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Casa de la Música Miramar
An outlet of Egrem, Cuba’s national music recording and publishing company, at Miramar’s Casa de la Música, this place has an excellent selection of CDs.
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Patoo
You’ll find local treasures (Tortuga puddings laced with rum, Busha Brown sauces, potpourri baskets, ceramic tableware, decorative ornaments and batik sarongs) at Patoo to tempt you.
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Siddhia Hutchinson Gallery
At this gallery of a local artist and designer, Siddhia Hutchinson, you can pick up first-class paintings of colorful tropical scenes. Siddhia also organizes periodic painting workshops.
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Casa de Comisiones
Serious retro freaks will love this combination of pawn shop and flea market, a riot of prerevolutionary cameras, vintage jewelry, and stuff your Grandma never got around to throwing out.
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Plaza Carolina
This mall lies to the east of the city, offering US standards such as JC Penney and Sears among its collection of 150 shops. It is off Hwy 26 (Expreso Baldorioty de Castro) in Carolina.
reviewed
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Straw Market
The market near Prince George Wharf is a veritable Bahamian souk, bustling with vendors selling T-shirts, wood carvings, and straw baskets, mats, dolls, hats and other items.
reviewed
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Galerie Nader
A huge gallery over two floors, with a large collection of mostly moderns and some naives. The owner has an extensive private collection housed as a museum at a separate address.
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Superette Mayra
At Superette Mayra you’ll find all of the basic food supplies along with other nonedible essentials such as washing powder, diapers and toilet rolls.
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Artistic Invisions
This gallery displays and sells the work of local artists, including paintings, mosaics and sea glass. You can even get your favorite piece reproduced on a mug or T-shirt.
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Bahamas Rum Cake Shop
Tourist shops sell these buttery delights in fancy sealed tins for around B$20. Buy and eat a warm one right now or take it home; they also sell the fancy tinned version.
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Feria de la Artesanía
This artisan market is a pale imitation of Habana Vieja's Antiguos Almacenes, with a few handmade shoes and sandals, and some old stamps and coins thrown in for good measure.
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ARTex
A fabulous selection of old movie posters, antique postcards, T-shirts and, of course, all the greatest Cuban films on videotape are sold at this shop inside the Cine Yara.
reviewed
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Street Stalls
Anything you might need - from batteries to frying pans - is sold in street stalls along the pedestrian mall on Independencia Sur which recently got a bit of a facelift.
reviewed
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Librería Pichardo
Some early and antique Spanish-language books, mostly on colonial history and Latin American literature and poetry, plus some curios. Bargain to get a good price.
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Mahogany Craft Shop
Near the gates of Hôtel Oloffson is this tiny, brightly painted shop, packed with jolly woodcarvings, paintings and painted metalwork. Prices are set by haggling.
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Galerie Marassa
This is a quite specialized and exclusive gallery exhibiting a good base of contemporary and naive Haitian artists, as well as metalwork, crafts and Vodou flags.
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Casa del Habano
Opposite the tobacco factory, this store is one of the better outlets of this popular government cigar chain, with a patio bar, air-conditioned shop, smoking room and Infotur desk.
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Artisans Fair
Head here for more traditional shopping. The market is generally open on weekends, but call the PRTC ahead of time to inquire about changing hours of operation.
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La Maison
The Cuban fashion fascination is in high gear at this place, with a large boutique selling designer clothing, shoes, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics and souvenirs.
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Philip Henry’s Art Bus
You might call in at Philip Henry’s Art Bus, roadside at Turtle Crawle Bay, to check out his array of woodcarving and assorted crafts.
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El Bulevar
This is the pedestrianized part of Calle San Rafael near the Hotel Inglaterra. Come here for peso snacks and surprises and 1950s shopping nostalgia.
reviewed