Nassau's shopping runs from the woven-palm baskets of the Straw Market to duty-free Swiss watches on Bay Street, with rum cake bakeries and batik studios in between. Three days of knowing which straw is hand-plaited and which is imported.
Around 200 stalls under the timber-roofed hall on Bay Street, open daily roughly 07:00–20:00. Hand-plaited palm-frond bags, hats and dolls sit beside imported goods — look for tight coiled stitching and the vendor's own weaving in progress behind the counter.
A working bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the Graycliff estate on West Hill Street, where cacao is roasted and hand-moulded into rum-filled truffles and Bahamian-spice bars. The glass-walled kitchen lets you watch the tempering before buying.
A yellow clapboard gallery on Village Road showing Bahamian painters, Junkanoo-inspired work and craft by resident artists, with a Saturday morning farmers-and-artisans market in the garden. Smaller prints and ceramics sit well below gallery-canvas prices.
The 1789 Buena Vista Estate on Delancy Street bottles rum on site and sells it from a colonial-house shop, including the Pale, Amber and Buena Vista aged expressions. Free self-guided tours run in the afternoon and end at the tasting counter.
The Bahamas' largest duty-free retailer, trading on Bay Street since 1929, with counters for Rolex, Omega, Cartier and Bahamian-pearl jewellery plus fragrance and sunglasses. Savings on Swiss watches typically run 15–25% below US list.
A contemporary Bahamian art space inside the Baha Mar resort on Cable Beach, with rotating exhibitions and a shop selling limited-edition prints, jewellery and objects by local makers. Free entry, and the artists are usually credited with full bios.
A screen-printing workshop on Ernest Street where fabric is hand-blocked with hibiscus, conch and Junkanoo motifs, then sewn into resort shirts, dresses and cushion covers. Free workshop tours run on weekday mornings if you ask at the counter.
A replica 19th-century Bahamian mansion housing Fragrance of the Bahamas, maker of the Guanahani and Pink Pearl scents. For a small fee you blend your own oils and leave with a named, labelled bottle mixed at the counter.
Rum cakes baked and soaked on the premises, sold warm in sealed gold tins that survive checked luggage. Free samples on the counter cover the original, banana and coconut versions before you commit to a four-pack.
Under the Paradise Island bridges, mailboat crews unload produce and fishermen sell polished conch shells, shell jewellery and bush-medicine bottles alongside the conch stands. Prices here are a fraction of the Bay Street shell shops.
A waterfront lane of pastel Bahamian-style shopfronts beside the Atlantis marina, mixing island-brand boutiques, Cuban cigars and jewellery. Entry is free and open to non-hotel guests via the Paradise Island bridge.
A small pink cottage selling Androsia batik, straw work and Bahamian preserves made by island cooperatives, with the maker's island named on most labels. Quieter and more consistent in quality than the downtown stalls.