San José shops in layers: a 19th-century covered market where vendors still weigh coffee by hand, boutique-dense Barrio Escalante and Los Yoses, and craft villages a bus ride away. Skip the airport gift racks — the good stuff sits behind unmarked doors downtown.
Open since 1880, this covered warren of roughly 200 stalls runs Mon–Sat 6:30–18:00, closed Sunday. Buy whole-bean Tarrazú and Tres Ríos coffee weighed to order, wooden chorreador coffee-drip stands, leather sandals and cuero-strapped machetes from Cartago.
One block north of the Central Market, Borbón is the wholesale produce market feeding the city — sacks of cacao nibs, dried achiote, tamarind paste, panela cones and vanilla. Rougher and louder than its neighbour, open roughly 5:00–17:00 daily except Sunday afternoon.
A fair-trade cooperative run by and for eight Indigenous nations of Costa Rica — Bribri, Boruca, Maleku, Chorotega. Sells Boruca balsa-wood devil masks, hand-woven chácara bags of pita fibre, and Chorotega black pottery, with the maker's community named on each tag.
Barrio Amón's converted coffee-baron mansions house small roasteries and bookshops along Calle 3 and Avenida 9. Micro-lot bags from Brunca, Turrialba and West Valley estates are roasted on site; most shops close at 18:00 and skip Sunday entirely.
The Paseo Gastronómico spine doubles as San José's slow-fashion strip: independent labels working in organic cotton and natural dye, plus ceramic studios and concept stores in converted 1940s houses. Most open 10:00–19:00, Tuesday to Saturday.
A second-hand and small-press bookshop in Barrio Escalante stocking Costa Rican authors — Carmen Naranjo, Fabián Dobles, Yolanda Oreamuno — alongside Latin American poetry chapbooks and local zines. Cash preferred, cramped in the best way.
A design store championing Central American makers: hardwood furniture from certified forestry, jewellery in local seed and silver, screen-printed textiles and ceramics. Everything carries the designer's name and country; expect gallery pricing, not market haggling.
Bean-to-bar chocolate from Costa Rican Trinitario cacao, flavoured with cas fruit, guaro, Tarrazú coffee and pejibaye. The San José shop sells bars, drinking-chocolate discs and tasting boxes that survive the flight home better than fruit does.
Ninety minutes northwest by bus from Terminal Tuasa, Sarchí is the home of the painted oxcart — UNESCO-listed intangible heritage. The Alfaro workshop, running since 1923, still turns wheels on a water-powered lathe and hand-paints mandala patterns.
Back in Barrio Amón on Avenida 7, Namu deals directly with Boruca, Guaymí, Chorotega and Maleku artisans plus Wounaan basket weavers, paying up front and documenting provenance. Open Mon–Sat, 9:00–18:30; hours shorten in the September–October low season.
The Central Valley's high-end mall, west of the city in Escazú: international labels, a large Universal department store, and a Costa Rican design wing. Useful for tax-free-ish electronics comparison and rain-proof browsing, 10:00–20:00 daily.
The pedestrianised Avenida Central between Calle 2 and Calle 9 holds the craft stalls and street vendors selling hammocks, Guatemalan-import textiles, seed jewellery and hand-carved cocobolo bowls — the last-evening stop before the airport run.