Shopping in Caribbean Islands
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Island Sculpture
Opposite Swaby’s Plaza, here a local called ‘LT’ crafts precious lignum vitae into abstract animal and mystical forms.
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A
El Muelle Shopping Center
The El Muelle Shopping Center has a book exchange, a well-stocked, brightly lit grocery store, and a contract post office.
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Butiki
A local art shop run by an American expat that sells paintings, jewelry, masks, T-shirts and plenty more. Almost everything is island-made.
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Galería Santiago
This gallery, below the cathedral on the southern side of Parque Céspedes, is another one with quality art. There are several more galleries along Heredia, east of here.
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D
Butterfly People
There's good shopping at Butterfly People. Popular Puerto Rican souvenirs include santos crafts, domino sets, cigars, rum and coffee.
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Punto Italia
This is a small Italian-owned grocery, a vital resource for expats who demand high-quality meat, cheese, bread and brand-name European exports.
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City Centre Building
This shopping plaza, opposite the library, has several duty-free shops selling jewelry, ceramics and so on. Most duty-free stores open at 10am.
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F
La Mariposa organopónico
A conveniently located organic fruit and vegetable market; and a good place to get a close-up look at Cuban’s urban agriculture program.
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Treasure Beach Women’s Group
A wide range of gifts is sold here, including batiks, crafts made from calabash shells and other natural materials, swimwear, sandals and coffee.
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G
Harbour Street Craft Market
For the largest selection head to the Harbour Street Craft Market, which extends for three blocks between Barnett and Market Sts.
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Galería Habana
This wonderful space in the heart of Vedado shows contemporary Cuban art in big, bright galleries. Come here to see what's new and different.
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Portland Art Gallery
A simple gallery and studio staffed by Hopeton Cargill, a Port Antonio realist painter. He’s delighted to act as an ambassador for the local art scene.
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Pulga de Antigüedades
Poke around the clothes, shoes, handicrafts and antiques at this open-air flea market, held every Sunday on a small plaza a block north of Parque Colón.
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Bazar Varadero Publicigraf
In Parque Central; ceramics, T-shirts, books and more.
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K
Librería la Escalera
A veritable museum of old and rare books stacked ceiling high. Sombrero-clad trovadores (traditional singers) often sit on the stairway and strum.
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L
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.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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R
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.
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