Shopping can take up a lot of your time during your tour. Follow this guide and avoid ruining your plans in Santiago.
If you don’t know where to go, you’re lost. It’s already stressful enough for ladies to spend hours choosing and deciding what to buy. But don’t worry, keep reading because here we suggest how to make the most of your time.
- Shopping Malls
If you’re looking for branches of the country’s main stores, renowned international franchises, or if you want to get everything in one place, you should go to the city’s malls, known by Dominicans as “Plazas comerciales.”
Although there are several smaller ones, here are the largest and most frequented:
- Bella Terra Mall on Av. Juan Pablo Duarte, near the corner of Av. Estrella Sadhalá.
- Plaza Internacional on Av. Juan Pablo Duarte, corner of Calle Ponce, La Esmeralda sector.
- Colinas Mall on Av. 27 de febrero.
- Mercado Modelo
Located on Calle Del Sol, a few meters from Plaza Duarte. In its spaces, you will find a large number of craft shops and handmade and locally manufactured items.
The most promoted items are those made of leather, wood, coconut, and conch shells; but you can also buy ceramics, pottery, basketry, embroidery, cotton fabrics, and even jewelry pieces.
You might be interested in buying cigars, tobacco, rum, or coffee from the famous Dominican brands available there.
When you leave Mercado Modelo, you will find yourself in the city center, the area where you will find the largest number of shops and commercial houses in Santiago de los Caballeros, all next to each other.
- Supermarkets
If you need to stock up on some food products, it won’t be a problem. In the city center, on the main avenues, and in some malls, you will find chains that operate like department stores.
Entering one of these hypermarkets is like diving into large establishments that offer food, kitchen utensils, clothes, shoes, perfumes; some even have bank branches, ice cream parlors, cafes, bakeries, among other commercial establishments.
But if you don’t want to be overwhelmed with food shopping but need to do it, this won’t be a problem for you because throughout the republic, there are “colmados”:
- Colmados
They are simply a kind of small grocery stores, known in other countries as bodegas, pulperías, or corner stores. The most beneficial aspect of their existence is that, besides being very well stocked with even the most unexpected products, they offer delivery service.
You just have to ask the staff at Hotel Platino where we suggest you stay for its easy access – to provide you with the phone number of the nearest one, and that’s it.
You place your order, and for the service, you will only pay ten pesos in addition to the total amount of your purchase. In a short time, you will receive your products without additional fatigue.
Here ends our guide to the best places for shopping in Santiago de los Caballeros:
- Bella Terra Mall
- Plaza Internacional
- Colinas Mall
- Calle del Sol
- Supermarkets
- Colmados