Other 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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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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Cosméticos Naturales
Cosméticos Naturales is beside the main road toward the west end of the village. A small cooperative making and selling shampoo, cosmetics, mosquito repellents, bath gel and soap from natural sources (like maize, coconut, avocado and sesame seeds), it also sells organic coffee and aromatherapy products.
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Mercado Municipal
For a closer look at local life – and an assault on the senses – visit San Cristóbal’s busy municipal market. Vendors peer from behind pyramids of tomatoes and mangoes, and you’ll find dozens of varieties of chilies, as well as bloody butchers’ stalls and fly-plagued dried-shrimp stands.
reviewed
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Mercado Principal
Though startlingly rustic compared with Campeche’s spruced-up center, the main market, Mercado Principal, across the street from the Baluarte de San Pedro, offers some terrific snacks. A number of cocina económica (basic eatery) stalls ring the interior rotunda.
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D
Mercado Juárez
In the souvenir supercenter of Mercado Juárez there are seemingly endless rows of all the usual items (blankets, jewelry, cheese, pottery, wrestling masks), but if you look long enough you will find some quality crafts in the mix.
reviewed
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Plaza Piel
Great-quality leather buys – shoes and general items – can be found in the Zona Piel, the main leather district (near the bus station, off Blvd Hilario Medina), or further south in the shopping malls Plaza Piel.
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Tianguis Campesino
The Tianguis Campesino is for the area’s small-scale food producers to sell their goods direct; only women are allowed to trade here, and it’s a colorful sight, with most of the traders in traditional dress.
reviewed
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E
Unión de Paleñqueros de Oaxaca
This family-run, scruffy hole-in-the-wall offers quality mezcal and lots of characters. The shop has smoky añejo and fruit-infused varieties that are excellent and extremely cheap.
reviewed
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F
Raweli
This shop sells its own original jewelry using some pre-Hispanic designs and local stones such as obsidian, amethyst and fire agate, a reddish-brown stone believed by some to have magical powers.
reviewed
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Xpress Super
A few blocks east of the Plaza Grande is an Xpress Super, a market/department store chain. It is a great spot to pick up ingredients for a sumptuous DIY dinner or picnic lunch.
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Abuelita Books
Snack on homemade cookies and brownies at this new shop stocking a huge and excellent selection of new and used books in English. Limited trades and buybacks, plus children’s titles too.
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Mercado Municipal
Jewelry, blankets, furniture, baskets, silver, pottery and leather goods are available in stores on Avenidas Revolución and Constitución, at the Mercado Municipal.
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Super Más
Self-caterers can stock up at the centrally located Super Más market, plus a handy cluster of fruit and vegetable shops on Dugelay between Madero and MA Flores.
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Galerías Guadalajara
The newest, biggest mall, Galerías Guadalajara, is 8km west of downtown, served by bus 25. The mall is open from approximately 10am to 9pm.
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J
La Macadamia
La Macadamia sells – you guessed it – products made from local macadamia nuts, from delicious macadamia marzipan to macadamia moisturizer.
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K
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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Patio de Las Artesanías
If you are looking for silver, there are several shops to wander through in the Patio de las Artesanías building.
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Emporium
This is one of the few places with fair silver prices that are already marked, and a kind, knowledgeable, English-speaking owner.
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Nidart
Nidart sells handmade leather masks from its in-house studio and also represents numerous other local artisans.
reviewed
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Fruit Market
For cheap eats or fruit for the road, check out the small fruit market between Hotel del Real and the highway.
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Librería Grañén Porrúa
Though most titles are in Spanish, this offers an excellent selection of art, archaeology and collectable books on the region.
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Guadalupana
The interesting Guadalupana, a market for food, is on Carrizal, a block north and northeast of the plaza.
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Amate
Probably the best English-language bookstore in Mexico, stocking almost every Mexico-related title (in print) in English.
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Olinala
In business since 1978, this excellent little shop displays authentic Mexican dance masks, folk art and rural antiques.
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