Shopping in Panama - outlets, shopping streets and boutiques

Shopping lovers are advised to check out Panama’s shopping centers, but its flea markets as well. In addition, high-quality and often unique products can be found in individual specialized shops that are scattered around Panama City. Tourists who decide to start shopping with a visit to shopping centers should first visit the “Albrook Mall” in the capital. This is the largest and most popular mall in Panama, with many shops selling well-known brands, a supermarket and a catering area in the middle of the building, as well as cinemas and a recreation area. Here you can enjoy yourself all day.

The small four-storey “Multicentro Mall” is located in the center of Panama City. It is better to conduct your shopping here in the afternoon on weekdays, when most Panamanians are at work. Although this shopping center is the smallest in the city, you can find everything you need in it: clothing stores, cafes, a pizzeria and “McDonald’s”. In Chitre there is a new shopping center “Mall Paseo Central” with a large selection of products. Local products and Panamanian brands are mainly sold there. “Santiago Mall” in Santiago de Veraguas is great for buying clothes and shoes, but there is no grocery store in it.

In Panama City, there is the “Mercado de Mariscos”, a neat market located in a building. Outside, by the sea, there are several restaurants that are also part of the market. Fish, lobster and other seafood are sold here. On the top floor of the market, visitors will find a wonderful seafood restaurant. Seabirds gather behind the building, as they are attracted by the smell of fish waste. The “Panamanian Crafts Market” has been operating in Panama City since the end of the nineties of the last century. This is a protected market with parking and restaurants. Works of artisans from all over the country are sold here: paintings, painted tableware, soft toys, jewelry and other goods created with skill and love. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

In Boquete, be sure to visit the flea market “Zapadora”, remarkable for the fact that you can find the most unexpected things on display in it. Every product, from photo frames and vases to chairs and cabinets, has its own history. There are paintings, street lights and even doors can be both relatively new and antique. The Boquete Tuesday Market sells local farmers’ products, including great fresh fruits and vegetables, goat milk products, pastries, honey and chocolate. In El Valle de Anton, you should definitely look into the small Sunday market, where not only tropical fruits and vegetables are sold, but also works by local craftsmen, such as baskets, jewelry and drums, as well as plants.

There are many different shops in Panama City, where you can buy high-quality and beautiful products that will become not just souvenirs on the shelf, but useful acquisitions. The “Galeria Vida” store sells fine craft samples collected from all over Latin America. Many of them are created by the hands of members of indigenous tribes, and each product – textiles, masks, dishes, jewelry – is unique and inimitable. “Reprosa” sells both the items created by the Indians and the items which are exact replicas of the decorations of the Panamanian Museum of Anthropology.

Souvenirs of the popular brand “I Love Panama” are sold in many stores. Among the goods there are trinkets, T-shirts and other things with declarations in love to a wonderful country of warm beaches printed on them. Any tourist can proudly wear a sweater that says “I Love Panama” on the coldest days in his/her country, reminding yourself and others of the warm shores of Panama. “Super Mini Diablo Rosso” sells shoes, jewelry and other designer items. In Portobelo, you can buy products of local artisans, artists, photographers and sculptors in the gallery “Casa Congo”. You can get good products in the studio “Taller Portobelo”.

Most of the time, tourists bring from Panama the popular “maul” fabrics with embroidery and appliqués. Often, exotic fishes and birds of Panama are depicted on these fabrics. Sometimes neat and intricate geometric figures are embroidered on them. Maul can be used in the interior as a blanket or as pillowcases. It can also be hanged on the wall as a carpet or a picture, or just use it as a wardrobe accessory – nearly everything the buyer can imagine. Wicker baskets and bags, hats, carved wooden figures, traditional masks, reproductions of art created by the local people of pre-Colonial era, inexpensive clothing, local rum and coffee, are some of the items that can serve as wonderful memorable souvenirs and gifts.