| One way to keep active is to go shopping. Although Costa
Rica is not as good for shopping as the United States., you
can still spend your free time doing some serious shopping,
browsing or just windowshopping.
Due to the large number of U.S. and Canadian citizens living
in Costa Rica, and a growing number of Costa Ricans exposed
to U.S. culture by cable TV and visiting the States, there
has been an influx of American products. The only problem
is that many of these goods are more expensive in Costa Rica
because of import duties.
Everyday, more and more imported goods from the United States
are available in Costa Rica. Imported brand name cosmetics,
stylish clothing, appliances and some foods can now be found
in many stores in San José and other areas catering
to foreigners. A number of new stores and shopping centers
in or near San José now sell imported items.
In downtown San José, a few specialty shops and a
couple of department stores sell American-style clothing and
other imported goods. San José's Central Avenue or
Avenida Central has virtually been turned into a pedestrian
outdoor mall and walking street. This section begins a block
beyond the Central Market and ends at the east end of Plaza
de la Cultura. La Gloria department store, Lehman bookstore
and the Universal department store are all found along this
promenade.
A variety of shops around the Central Market offer products
at low prices. Prices in this section of town tend to be much
more reasonable than in the local mega-malls. Boutiques, a
multitude of shoe stores, a record shop, a pharmacy, an outdoor
sidewalk café and fast food restaurants such as McDonald's,
Burger King and Taco Bell dot both sides of the street.
For you mall-rats or mall-crawlers, there are also a number
of local shopping centers that closely resemble U.S.-style
malls. Plaza del Sol, Costa Rica's first U.S.-style mall,
is about five minutes east of San José in Curridabat.
A mall is also found at the Plaza Mayor Shopping Center in
Rohrmoser. It has 21 businesses, including a movie theater,
supermarket, bank, pet store, pharmacy and food court. In
the suburb of Escazú, home of many foreigners and well-to-do
Costa Ricans, a number of U.S.-style mini-malls have sprung
up. Most of these newer stores have products that foreigners
seek. The Multiplaza mega-mall west of Escazú houses
a large mall and shopping center. There are the usual chain
stores plus a host of specialty shops. Multiplaza del Este,
in the eastern San José suburb of Curridabat, belongs
to the same company. Terramall, east of San José on
the way to the city of Cartago, is one of the country's newest
mall complex.
In Heredia Paseo de las Flores has stores, food courts, multiple-
screen movie theaters, ample parking and more. A new second
section of the mall was added in November of 2006.
The San Pedro Mall is one of Central America's largest shopping
centers. This mega-mall has more than 260 stores, 35 restaurants,
a hotel, a couple of discos, video arcades and parking for
1,200 cars.
A few blocks east of San Pedro Mall is the American Outlet
Mall. It has more than 150 shops, including a movie theater,
a food court and outlet stores. The latter operates like the
factory outlets in the United States by selling clothes and
other items at discounted prices. Plaza Real Cariari has about
125 stores, a food court and theaters.
The Mall Internacional, on the main road just before the
city of Alajuela, is smaller than the other giant shopping
complexes but offers shoppers an ample variety of shops.
Other smaller mini-malls include Plaza Colonial in San Rafael
de Escazú, Santa Ana 2000 in Santa Ana, San José
2000 near the Hotel Irazú, Plaza Heredia, in the neighboring
city of Heredia, Centro Colón on Paseo Colón,
Centro Comercial Guadalupe in Guadalupe, the new Nova Centro
in Moravia, Plaza América near Hatillo, Metrocentro
in the city of Cartago and Gran Centro Comercial del Sur south
of San José.
There are also music stores, supermarkets and natural food
stores located in the San José area. There are even
arts and crafts stores and gift shops. Check out La Casona,
the National Artisan Street Market or the new International
Market of Arts and Crafts in the suburb of Curridabat to the
east of San José.
The newest shopping craze is U.S. warehouse-style mega-stores
such as Wall-Mart and Target. They promise to change local
shopping habits and pricing. The new Hipermás stores
have groceries, furniture, toys, a deli, clothing, appliances
and more all under one roof. Best of all, the stores stock
a huge amount of U.S. products. Costa Rica's first wholesale
shopping club, PriceSmart, opened its first store in San José's
Zapote district in mid-1999. The chain's stores are similar
to the Costco chain in the United States. The company is pioneering
the club concept in Costa Rica. The store purchases large
amounts of imported products, and in turn passes its volume-buying
savings on to its club members. They also have stores in Heredia,
Escazú and Tibás.
In addition, GNC (288-1049) opened several vitamin stores
in the San José area. Now all types of vitamins and
nutritional products are available.
The Cemaco department store chain operates stores in Pavas,
Curridabat, Multiplaza, Alajuela and Zapote. The new store
in Zapote's Plaza Cemaco has 37 departments and more than
60,000 items.
In general, despite the availability of many new imported
products and the growing number of malls, mini-malls and specialty
shops, shopping in Costa Rica still leaves a lot to be desired
if you are used to the North America. Do not expect to find
every product you may need in Costa Rica.
As we mention in Chapter 11, if you live in Costa Rica, you
have to substitute many local products for items you ordinarily
use and do without some things. This is easy due to the variety
of similar products available in Costa Rica.
If you absolutely must have products from the States, you
can go there every few months as many foreigners and
wealthy Costa Ricans do to stock up on canned goods and
other non-perishable foods, clothing, sundries and cosmetics.
We know of one American retiree who goes to Miami every three
or four months to buy all the goodies he cannot find in Costa
Rica. These frequent trips to the States are unnecessary if
you learn to make do with local products.
One thing you may need some time to get accustomed to is
the way purchases are handled in some stores. One clerk will
wait on you, another will ring up the purchase, and finally
you will pick up your merchandise at another window. You find
this system in most department stores, pharmacies and older
businesses. This system seems to create a lot of extra work
for employees and delays for customers. The good news is that
every day more and more stores are adopting the American style
one step self-service system.
A mammoth U.S Style Mall
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