Old vs New – Shopping in Havana, Cuba

Bottles in a Havana perfume shop

One of the more enjoyable aspects of travelling in Cuba is that the guides seem to get paid a decent wage. This means we get to visit the most enjoyable places, rather than just shopping at those that give the largest kickbacks to the tour companies.

Traditional perfume shop in Havana

Perfume Shop

One of the few shops we visited in Havana was an old perfume shop. It didn’t look to be a working perfumery any more, but instead functioned as a museum. Colourful bottles of ingredients coordinated nicely with the earth-toned stained glass windows.

After looking round and taking a few snapshots they did vaguely mention that the perfumes were for sale. At the same time, someone loudly pointed out that there was a chocolate shop across the street and the whole walking tour group scuttled that way with barely a goodbye.

Stained glass windows in Havana

Chocolate Shop

People went crazy for the chocolate shop. I’m not sure why as the one I tasted was reasonably good, but a long way from Belgian or Swiss standards.

Modern stores

Amongst all the traditional stores and restored shop fronts were a couple of surprising finds. One little corner of Havana, near Plaza Vieja, had a few western stores. Paul & Shark sells designer clothes and Crocs sell rubber clogs in lurid colours.

Despite their shop here, I didn’t notice anyone wearing Crocs apart from the tourists – most Cubans here dress very well, either in smart leather brogues or high heels.

Shopping for souvenirs at Havana market

Shopping at the Market

All the shops were interesting enough, but the market was far more vibrant. As with anywhere in the world, sellers shouted about their wares and made fantastical claims.

One claim that was true seemed to be that most of the stall holders made their own goods. Unlike the mass-produced trinkets in many markets around the world, here everything was customisable or could be made-to-order within the day. Popular goods were models made from beer cans, or cigar boxes with custom messages burned into the lids.

If I’m brutally honest, the reason we didn’t buy any souvenirs at all in Cuba was that they were all pretty awful. The designs of simple goods like fridge magnets and models were very, very basic. The calligraphy on the messages burned into cigar box lids was simplistic. The only thing that we nearly liked was the oil paintings, but it seemed an artist would do an amazing piece of work then stick on a square of irrelevant newspaper and varnish over it.

Street-side fruit stall in Havana

Hopefully related posts:

Tips for travelling to Cuba, via Havana airport Plaza de Armas Secondhand Book Market – Havana, Cuba Confusing sculptures in La Plaza Vieja – Havana Cuba La Libreta – 50 years of rationing in Cuba