Shopping in Mexico
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Sna Jolobil
Next to Santo Domingo, Sna Jolobil exhibits and sells some of the very best huipiles, blouses, skirts, rugs and other woven items, with prices ranging from a few dollars for small items to more than M$32,000 for the best huipiles (the fruit of many months’ work). Sna Jolobil is a cooperative of 800 indigenous women weavers from the Chiapas highlands, founded in the 1970s to foster the important indigenous art of backstrap-loom weaving. It has revived many half-forgotten techniques and designs.
reviewed
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Fábrica La Aurora
The largest concentration of contemporary art galleries and design studios (mainly expatriates’ work) is housed in the trendy Fábrica La Aurora, a remodeled raw-cotton factory on the north end of town. Many galleries are promoted in local papers, but otherwise, be guided by your whim.
reviewed
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MARO
This rabbit warren of a store offers a big range of good work at good prices, all made by the hundreds of members of the MARO women artisans’ cooperative around Oaxaca state. Whether you buy a stamped tin mirror or a woven-to-order rug, you know your money is going directly to the makers.
reviewed
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local market
The local market on the west side of the Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra is where you can find everything from fruit, vegetables and fresh trout to herbal medicines, crafts and clothing - including the region's distinctive striped shawls and sarapes. There's outstanding cheap food, too.
reviewed
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Bazar Casa Ramirez
Several readers have recommended this labyrinthine, two-story handicrafts store with items from all over Mexico. Prices are a little steep, but quality is high, and you'll definitely find a colorful selection. It has a large selection of Day of the Dead paraphernalia.
reviewed
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Taller Leñateros
A society of Maya artists, the ‘Woodlanders’ Workshop’ crafts exquisite handmade books, posters and fine art prints from recycled paper infused with local plants, using images inspired by traditional folk art. An open workshop, you can watch the art in progress.
reviewed
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Super Soya
A whole-foods shop where you can find all the normal healthy fare, including various nutty breads and biscuits, soy products, natural vitamins and minerals, sugarless sweets and invigorating power snacks for keeping up your pavement-pounding momentum.
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Museo del Jade
Particularly classy jewelry is sold here, with pre-Hispanic reproductions carved in jade and other precious materials. Inside is a small museum with replicas of ancient Olmec pieces and a full-size replica of Pakal's tomb at Palenque.
reviewed
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Rincón Artesanal
Owned and run by a friendly mother and daughter, this shop is packed to the rafters with objects made from carved wood, pewter, wax, ceramics and papier-mâché - all made in different workshops throughout Guanajuato state.
reviewed
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Fractal Naturaleza
A great place to check out souvenirs made by local Tuxtla artisans is Fractal Naturaleza, a store that does its best to support local art and textiles.
reviewed
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Nemi Zapata
A fair-trade store that sells products made by Zapatista communities: weavings, embroidery, coffee and honey, EZLN cards, posters and books.
reviewed
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Donkey Jote
A tiny gem of an English bookstore with an excellent selection of books, plus dual English-Spanish publications and language dictionaries.
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Copal
Copal On the east side of Plaza Mijares, Copal has an interesting assortment of crafts, jewelry, rugs and masks.
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El Viejo Zaguán
Wonderful bilingual publications, art books, gifts and a relaxing coffee stop.
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Plaza Loreto
Plaza Loreto, a 600m walk south of Plaza San Jacinto, is an unusually attractive shopping mall converted from an old paper factory. Several patios and courtyards are set between the brick buildings and it’s a lot more than just a place to shop. You’ll find a miniamphitheater for free concerts and puppet shows; two multiscreen cinemas (one of them, Cinemanía, devoted to classic and art-house movies and endowed with a nice little lobby bar); a cabaret club, La Planta de Luz; an excellent art museum, and one of the city’s best restaurants, Taberna de León. There are plenty of up-market shops as well, including boutiques and jewelers, plus a branch of Sanborns and the Mixup…
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Casa de Las Artesanías
If you don’t have time to scour the Purépecha pueblos for the perfect folk art piece, come to the House of Handicrafts, a cooperative marketplace launched to benefit indigenous craftspeople. Attached to the renaissance-style Templo de San Francisco, arts and handicrafts from all over Michoacán are displayed and sold here. Prices are high, but so is the quality and all your cash goes directly to the craftspeople. Upstairs, artists demonstrate their craft in small shops that represent specific Michoacán towns. You’ll find guitars from Paracho, copper from Santa Clara del Cobre, lacquerware, pottery and much more.
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La Casa de las Artesanías
Talavera ceramics have been the signature handicraft of Dolores ever since Padre Hidalgo founded the town's first ceramics workshop in the early 19th century. On the plaza, La Casa de las Artesanías sells a selection of items. For better prices and variety, head to the workshops along Av Jimenez, five blocks west of the plaza, or (by car) to Calzada de los Heroes, the exit road to San Miguel de Allende. Some workshops here make 'antique,' colonial-style furniture.
reviewed
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Casart
You’ll find quality arts and crafts in more peaceful surroundings at the state crafts store, Casart. There’s a big range, and the crafts are often top-end pieces from the villages where the craft styles originated. Prices are fixed, and higher than you can get with some haggling in markets; gauge prices and quality here before going elsewhere to buy. Craftspeople, such as basket weavers from San Pedro Actopan, often work in the store.
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Plaza Kukulcán
The largest (and definitely among the stuffiest, attitude-wise) of the indoor malls is chichi Plaza Kukulcán. Of note here is the huge art gallery (taking up nearly half of the 2nd floor); the many stores selling silverwork; and La Ruta de las Indias, a shop featuring wooden models of Spanish galleons and replicas of conquistadors’ weaponry and body armor. But all is not lost; the plaza has a bowling alley and a large food court.
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Central de Abastos
This enormous main market is a hive of activity all week, with Saturday the biggest day. If you look long enough, you can find almost anything here. Each type of product has a section to itself, and you can easily get lost in the profusion of household goods, CDs and artesanías, and the overwhelming quantities of fruit, vegetables, sugarcane, maize and other produce that’s grown from the coast to the mountaintops.
reviewed
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Chíc by Accident
Featured in stylish wallpaper* magazine, French owner Emmanuel Picault has a fascinating collection of 20th-century furniture and objects here, ranging from a quirky giant walrus to a sumptuous abstractly designed quilt. Picault has published a book on contemporary furniture with Philippe Starck (Book by Accident) The adjacent showroom, Sex By Accident, concentrates on the erotica in art and sculpture.
reviewed
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Mercado de Artesanías
Bargaining is the standard at this 400-stall mercado, especially as sellers often find suckers among the many cruise-ship passengers. The market is located between Avenida Cuauhtémoc and Velásquez de León and is Acapulco’s main craft market. It’s paved and pleasant, and an OK place to get better deals on everything that you see in the hotel shops including hammocks, jewelry, clothing and T-shirts.
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Fruitlandia
Bring home some fresh traditional sweets such as ground, sweetened semilla de calabaza (squash seeds), tamarindo con chile (tamarind paste with chile), pepitorias (brittle sesame and peanut bars), candied limes, jamoncillo (milk fudge) and chilacayote (candied squash). Be sure to try the bright green biznaga (candied cactus), a local specialty.
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Arte Mexicano Para el Mundo
Explore three floors of quality arts and crafts from all over Mexico, including rugs, jewelry, pottery and delightful shocking-pink papier-mâché dolls with plenty of glitter and attitude. The first floor has an excellent bookshop with coffee-table-style tomes on Mexican design, cookery and architecture. There’s a cafeteria on the sixth floor with sweeping Zócalo views.
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Arte 256
It's well worth the slog to find this fabulous gallery owned and operated by Tijuana native Joly Lacarra. The revolving exhibitions are generally outstanding. To get there, head out Blvd Aguas Calientes, and up Tapachula, past the Hipódromo. After Tapachula veers left, hang a right (at the big black building). This streets merges with Mérida which you follow up to the gallery.
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