Good shopping in St. Maarten?

[tink5]

Is St. Maarten a good place to shop? We were going to do the snorkeling in St. John's and I think my only chance to shop will be in St. Maarten. Any advice on what shops not to miss would be great.

 

[TheWog]

Depends on what you are looking for. There was a duty free liquor store right as you get off the ship at the St, Maarten sign. They have lots of stuff. Oro Diamonte seemed to have great prices and selection of jewelry. There is Del Sol, and plenty of peddlers selling shirts, hats, necklaces and the like. Make sure you bargain with them. and little alleys with all sorts of stuff for sale. This is all in Philipsburg. If you go to Marigot there is a flea market to search out. So it depends on what you are looking to bring home.

 

[tink5]

I guess just souvioners to remind us of our trip. T-shirts and things like that. Not much of a drinker so no liquor and not much of a jewelry person.

 

[Grumbo]

Lots of souvenirs, expensive and inexpensive "tropical shirts", bags and stuff. I'm not much of a shopper, but it has alot to look at.
To quote my wife... "There is no such thing as bad shopping. Some is just better than others."

Cheers,
Grumbo

 

[AnnaS]

Liquor (for us), jewelry (my dd and me ) and cigarettes (for dad who unfortunately still smokes). We did buy plenty of t-shirts for us and for nieces, etc. Quality not good (the ones that were about $5.00). I won't be buying them next time. I used them for sleepwear.

 

[logan1_2000]

St. Martin has wonderful values for good quality jewelry if you shop at the right place. We have purchased jewelry on multiple occasions from Trident-Shivas, which are two stores, one on each side of Front Street, a few blocks to your left as you reach front street from the water taxi pier. They are both owned by the same family. The mother is Varsha, her son Jay used to be on St. Martin but last I heard he was at a new store on Aruba. They came recommended by time share owners who have been going back to St. Martin for over 15 years, and by more than one recommendation. Find their web site in advance and contact them--tehy'll call you back by telephone and tell them what you are looking for. We have re-set my DW's engagement solitaire, added a matching anniversary band in diamond and platinum, diamond stud earrings, and more on three trips to St. Martin including on the Magic.

 

[logan1_2000]

There are good liquor values on St. Martin, though it pays to shop around and compare. Example is a liter of Absolut Vodka for $6.10. I found the best prices were sometimes at the airport liquor shop of all places, and at some shops up at Maho Beach near the casino and Cheri's cafe. Wine is not a bargain, and I do not know why the difference, but thats how it is. There are a number of quality tobacconists with great humidor systems to keep their expensive, but authentic Cubans fresh.Have them wrapped to travel, and yes, as many other have said and I am sure I will get flamed--they are illegal to bring into the U.S. It is also illegal to drive your car above the posted speed limit. The real world answer is that U.S. Customs has never searched me on three cruises or one week on St. Martin at the Divi--a tourist and his trophy box of Cohibas is not what customs is targeting. One retailer even showed me custom non-branded cedar boxes, he takes the bands off and mails them if you like, and so all you have is an unbranded box with bare cigars in the extremely unlikely event that you acted so suspiciously that you were inspected. Remember, its not like cuba will suffer if you don't buy the cigars--every other country trades with Cuba, particularly our allies to the North, Canada, where you can also buy Cuban Cigars.