Shopping in Puerto Rico’s Old San Juan
Visitors love to shop in Viejo San Juan because it offers the widest variety of unique shopping options in one pedestrian-friendly place. This is the place to go for fine jewelry, imported clothing and furnishings, cigars, folk art, and tourist trinkets.
Arts and Crafts
For high-quality crafts by local artisans, Puerto Rican Arts and Crafts is your one-stop shopping spot. This large two-level store has everything from original paintings and prints to ceramics, sculpture, jewelry, and more.
For a small selection of exquisitely made, authentic Caribbean crafts, stop by the Museum Store in the Museo de las Americas. It has a nice but small selection of high-quality baskets, shawls, pottery, jewelry, santos, art posters, and CDs.
Máscaras de Puerto Rico is a funky, narrow shop in a covered alleyway known as La Calle selling quality contemporary crafts, including masks and small reproductions of vintage cartel posters. In the back is Café El Punto restaurant, serving traditional Puerto Rican cuisine.
Spicy Caribbee sells Caribbean sauces, spice mixes, coffees, soaps, fragrances, candles, cookbooks, and more.
Artesanía Mundo Taíno is your source for traditional crafts by local artisans. Look for vejigante masks, carved wood santos, paintings, jewelry made from seeds and beads, reproductions of Taíno artifacts, coffee, honey, candy, and T-shirts.
Artisans markets, selling locally crafted jewelry, leather goods, gourd art, musical instruments, paintings, and cigars, are often held at two plazas in Viejo San Juan: Plaza Dársenas (Calle Comercio by La Casita) and Plaza Eugenio María de Hostos (between Calle San Justo and Calle Tizol). Don’t be surprised if there’s also live entertainment and a food truck or two.
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Cigars
Like Cuba, Puerto Rico has a long history of hand-rolled cigar-making, and you can sometimes find street vendors rolling and selling their own in Plaza de Hostos’s Mercado de Artesanías, a plaza near the cruise ship piers at Calle Recinto Sur. There are also several good cigar shops selling anything you could want—except Cubans, of course.
Find a large selection at The Cigar House, which also has an inviting smoking lounge. Trinidad, Monte Cristo, Padron 1926 and 1964, Cohiba, Perdomo, Macanudo, Partagas, Romeo and Julieta, and Puerto Rican cigars aged in rum are among those sold.
For an intimate setting, visit El Galpón. This small, selective shop sells a variety of quality cigars, Panama hats, designer ball caps, masks, art prints, and superb vintage and contemporary santos.
Clothing and Accessories
Concalma is a chic shop specializing in locally made tote bags, purses, pouches, belt bags, and backpacks. The variety of fabrics and patterns range from playful to sophisticated.
Almacenes Fernandez has been selling men’s fine clothing since 1917. The store specializes in exquisite linen shirts, guayaberas, Panama hats, and Sperry Topsider shoes. Look for brands by Cubavera and Spazio.
Since 1977, Olé has been selling quality Panama hats made in Ecuador. For $80, shoppers can select a style, have it fitted, and pick a band to finish it off. The store also stocks new and vintage carved wood santos from Puerto Rico, Ecuador, and Chile.
Jewelry
Viejo San Juan is home to a dozen or so fine jewelry stores selling high-end watches and jewelry made from precious stones and metals. Many of them can be found along Calle Fortaleza, including Blue Diamond , which carries designs by Kabana, Gucci, Le Vian, and Movado.
Local jewelry designer Laura Lugo sells her delicate gold, gold-filled, and gold-plated necklaces, bracelets, and earrings, inspired by the sea and nautical themes, at her boutique Luca, along with a small selection of sophisticated women’s clothing and jewelry from designers in Australia, Japan, Italy, and Puerto Rico.
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