ARIZONA SHOPPING
Tempe Shopping - Tucson Shopping Shoppers Delight in Tucson's VarietyFrom miles of modern malls to south-of-the-border souvenir stands, shopping around Tucson can be as easy or adventurous as you like. Unique Shopping AreasTucson's downtown district hosts art galleries, antiques shops, and crafts stores; Congress Street and the Downtown Arts District are especially good areas to browse. One-of-a-kind items can also be found on 4th Avenue, between downtown and the University of Arizona, where artsy boutiques abound between 2nd and 9th streets.Inveterate crafts seekers head for the tiny town of Tubac, some 45 miles south of Tucson. Arizona's first settlement is now an artist's colony, with more than 80 shops featuring everything from sturdy hand-hewn cabinets to delicate silk-screened scarves. Another 20 miles to the south, the Mexican border and Nogales attract hardcore bargain hunters. At overflowing stalls and spacious department stores, colorful serapes, terra cotta pots, tin-work mirrors and more vie for shoppers' attention. Especially SouthwestThe Old Town Artisans complex, near downtown's Tucson Museum of Art, brings together a fine group of purveyors of Southwestern wares. For furniture with a regional flair, try Desert Digs at the Foothills Mall or Territorial Trends on the east side. Then accessorize your home -- and yourself -- at Tucson Mall's Se96or Coyote or downtown's Red Mesa Designs. For a taste of Tucson, locally bottled salsas as well as ristras (dried chili pepper strings) are sold throughout the city. Feeling particularly prickly? B&B Cactus Farm and Ironwood Cactus Nursery will ship your spiny souvenirs back home. Native American CraftsThe Tohono O'Odham Indians, whose reservation abuts Tucson, create pottery "friendship" bowls with linked figures, and incorporate a distinctive man-in-the-maze design into other crafts. San Xavier Plaza, across from the mission church of the same name, carries these striking local pieces as well as the intricate work of other native peoples. Among the merchants in central Tucson who also offer high-quality Native American pieces -- jewelry, baskets, kachinas, fetishes, and more -- are Bahti Indian Arts, Desert House Crafts, Indian Territory Inc., Kaibab Shops, Mac's Indian Jewelry, Morning Star Traders, Inc., and Touch of Turquoise. Downtown, check out Huntington Trading Co., Indian Village, Sonoran Glass Crafts, and So West Territories. Ready to WrangleTucson merchants like Arizona Hatters and Stewart Boot Manufacturing help get real and wannabe cowpokes decked out from head to toe. With a wide array of shirts, jeans, belts, and jewelry, Arizona Outfitters, Corral Western Wear, and Western Warehouse have got the rest of the Western front covered.A Multitude of Malls and Shopping CentersEl Con Mall, Tucson's first, hosts more than 135 retailers, including JC Penney, Robinsons-May, and Montgomery Ward. The tony, outlet and boutique-oriented Foothills Mall features a Saks Off-Fifth Avenue outlet store, Donna Karan also has a presence in the mall with her outlet boutique store. The mall boasts many other outlet stores, a Barnes & Noble superstore and a newly expanded cinema with 16 screens.A family shopping mecca, Park Mall counts Sears, Macy's and Dillard's among its anchors. Tucson Mall, the largest mall in town, offers two bustling floors of department stores and specialty shops, and a huge food court. Those who hold that less is more will enjoy the charming El Mercado de Boutiques, Plaza Palomino, River Center, Santa Fe Square, and St. Phillip's Plaza, numbered among Tucson's more intimate retail complexes. Some Outlets for Discount UrgesIf your shopping satisfaction is proportional to the size of the mark-down, you can double your pleasure by heading up Interstate 10: About an hour north of Tucson are the Casa Grande Factory Stores (exit 194) and the Tanger Factory Outlet Center (exit 198). For a bargain fix closer to town, VF Factory Outlet Mall (exit 264 of I-10, just south of Tucson) provides a smaller-scale discount experience. And don't forget the outlet stores at Foothills Mall.The mission of the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau is to increase the revenues of Metropolitan Tucson, Pima County, Oro Valley and Southern Arizona businesses by marketing the Tucson area and Southern Arizona as a preferred convention and visitor destination. |
