Travel Beauty Blog: I love Shopping...My Favourite Stores

One of my favourite things to do in this life is shopping. Throughout my work life saving money has never been so hard until I landed in Panama City. As I call it: The city of Skyscrapers and Shopping Malls. There are countless Malls and Outlet Stores in Panama City that it is hard to escape this habit call spending. Usually when people speak about Panama, they associate it with mainly 2 things, the Panama Canal (which makes up part of the country's multicultural history) and of course Shopping.

Depending on what country you are visiting from or what country you were born in, your opinion may differ in terms of comparisons. This is a personal experience that will differ from each person.

Never-the-less, if you travel a lot you would be able to compare prices and quality of things you get here as opposed to other countries. I will say that its cheaper to shop in Miami and most likely the United States as a whole, when compared to the prices and quality of things available in Panama. I am not saying that you don't get good bargains or quality stuff; but rather, if you were to spend the same money as you were to here, for example lets say Miami, you would probably get more for your dollar in Miami depending on what those items are.

Maybe this is so because although Panama is a shopper's paradise for some people and seems to have most of the well-known European and American Brands such as Zara, Forever 21, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Bershka, American Eagle, Levis, Gap, Top Shop, ALDO, Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Nine West, Clarks, Steven Madden, Payless, MAC Cosmetics, Conway, Aeropostale, just to name a few; as well as the high end Brands like Gucci, Chanel, Prada, Coach, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Carolina Herrera, Ted Baker, Bulova, Swarovski, Tory Burch, Michael Kors, etc. Most of the well-known Sports Stores can be found here as well, such as Nike, Adidas, Puma.

You will not find here, Department Stores like Marshalls, Macy's, Nordstrom, Ross Dress for Less, Home Goods, Burlington etc unlike in the United States. I think this is a major disadvantage of shopping in Panama. I have noted that most of those Department Stores carry merchandise that are not sold in the Department/Outlet Stores here.

Down to Coffee Shops, the most popular of them all being Starbucks are located in some of the Malls and at strategic locations around the city. Popular Restaurants & Dessert Shops include: MC Donalds, Dominos, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy's, Chuck-e-Cheese's, TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, Häagen-Dazs, DQ, Auntie Annie's, Cinnabon, etc etc.

On the flip side, you don't always have to jump on a plane or shop online to access the same European or Amercian Brands that have online stores. You can walk into Multiplaza, Multicentro, Alta Plaza or Soho Mall and you will find most of the common Stores mentioned above, right at the tip of your toes.

Fact: The majority of the stores located both in the US and Panama, sell for a few more dollars here in Panama and that is why I said you may get more for your money in Miami. Also, I find that Nine West, Clarks & ALDO are ridiculously priced in comparison to the prices in their US Stores. There may be more, but those are the ones in particular that I don't really buy from in Panama.