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Panama City has more shopping options than you can shake a credit card at. Because of the country's role as an international port, manufactured goods from all over the world are cheaper in Panama than in most countries. Merchants from South and Central America regularly travel here to shop, but Americans will find that the U.S. megastores often beat the local prices for cameras and other electronic goods—plus the stores back home are more convenient in terms of warranties. Busy Vía Veneto, in El Cangrejo, and Casco Viejo have souvenir shops. The city also has several modern malls, where the selection ranges from cheap to chic.
Many of the bags, baskets, necklaces, and other items in this colorful shop are the product of recycling, made from magazine pages, flip tops, and other trash. Others are made from natural fibers, and almost everything is the work of families in the Panamanian countryside, so they're good for the environment, and people.
Albrook Mall is the people's mall, with more discount stores than the city's other malls. That, combined with its convenient location between the city's massive bus terminal and Albrook Airport, makes it the busiest mall. Shopaholics can position themselves for multiday shopping by checking into the TRYP by Wyndham Panama Albrook Mall Hotel, which is attached to the shopping complex (and one of the closest hotels to the Miraflores Locks visitor center at the Panama Canal).
The Avenida Central pedestrian mall, a short walk from Casco Viejo, is lined with shops selling cheap, imported electronics, jewelry, fabrics, and clothing. A stroll down this busy street can be quite entertaining, even if you don't buy anything. Avoid the side streets.
A good place to shop for molas is the Centro Municipal de Artesanías Panameñas, a small market where most of the stands are owned by Kuna women, who are often sewing molas as they wait for customers. They also sell chaquiras, bags, hammocks, dresses, framed butterflies, T-shirts, and other souvenirs.
Flory Saltzman Molas has the country's biggest mola collection—thousands of those colorful creations divided by theme and quality, and stacked to the ceiling. The quality of their collection varies greatly, and the good ones tend to cost considerably more than the Kuna vendors charge on the streets, or in the markets.
Galería Arte Indígena, just down the street from Plaza Francia, has indigenous handicrafts such as Emberá baskets, animal figures carved from tagua palm seeds, decorated gourds, hammocks, Panama hats (imported from Ecuador), and T-shirts.
This shop (formerly known as Artesanías Panamá Bahía) sells a mixture of Panamanian and Ecuadoran souvenirs, including an ample selection of Panama hats, from its new location in Bellavista, conveniently close to many hotels.
La Ronda is an attractive little shop in a historic building near Plaza Francia that sells a mix of handicrafts and souvenirs: molas, Carnaval masks, wood carvings, paintings, Panama hats, and assorted knickknacks.
The Mercado de Artesanía de Panamá Viejo, next to the Centro de Visitantes (Visitor Center), is packed with small shops and stalls selling everything for indigenous handicrafts—many shop owners are indigenous—to woven hats, Carnaval masks, and other artisans' works from the country's interior. A number of Guna families have shops here, making it a good place to buy molas.
Masks, hammocks, and other handicrafts tend to be relatively inexpensive at the Mercado de Buhonería, a small market behind the old train station, just east of Plaza Cinco de Mayo, that receives few visitors. If you visit the Avenida Central pedestrian mall, you should definitely stop by here.
This modern, four-story mall, across from Punta Paitilla, holds dozens of shops, as well as a movie theater, food court, and a casino. The location makes it convenient to many hotels, but competition from faster-growing malls like Multiplaza and Albrook have resulted in some empty retail space at Multicentro.
The city's largest high-end mall is just east of Punta Paitilla, on the road to ATLAPA and Panamá Viejo. Its shops include the likes of Tiffany, Cartier, Luis Vuitton, and an Apple Store (although some of these higher-end stores were expected to move to the newer, even more luxurious SOHO Mall). It also has a movie theater, several restaurants, a food court, and an adjacent hotel.
Reprosa sells elegant jewelry based on reproductions of pre-Columbian gold pieces and Spanish coins, as well as interesting modern designs in silver and high-quality indigenous chaquira beadwork, ocobolo wood carvings, paintings, and the ubiquitous molas. They have shops on Avenida A, in the heart of the Casco Viejo, and on Avenida Samuel Lewis, in Obarrio, near the Area Bancaría, as well as factory tours available weekdays at 9:30 am and 2 pm at its Parque Industrial location in Costa del Este.
