Usually the first step a cruiser takes is shopping for necessities. The local area betwen the marinas in the west and Port of Spain in the east provides many excellent places to shop for food and supplies. Most are just a short Maxi-Taxi away or can be reached by one of Jesse's weekly shopping trips. Farther afield to the east and south of Port of Spain are a number of places to find that unique item needed for a project or to explore the varied shoppiing Opportunities.
Jesse James, Members only Maxi Taxi and Tour Services, Trinidad
It is impossible to overstate the importance of Jesse and his company to the welfare and happiness of the cruising community in Trinidad.
He provides many regulary scheduled local shopping trips and trips to pick up things not usally available on the local shopping trips
He also provides wonderful tours all over the island. This most well known is his "Taste of Trini Tour", which takes cruisers to all corners of the island to sample the foods that the average Trini eats.
He is also one of the most outspoken advocates for the cruiser to the government of Trinidad and Tobago.
Local Shopping
The "local" shopping Opportunities between Chaguaramas and Port of Spain can provide most of the immediate needs for the cruiser. There are seveal malls, groceriey stores, and hardware stores easly reached by a Maxi-Taxi.
Weekly Shopping Trips
Weekly trips are organized by Jesse to the grocery store at West Mall, that at the Long Circular Mall, and/or Price Smart at the Movie Town Mall. Time is provided to shop for both groceries and to visit the mall. Additional stops are made at specialty food stores, hardware stores or marine supply stores. A morning trip can be made to the market in Port of Spain. The selection of local produce has to be seen to believed.
The current scheduled shopping trips include (assuming a minumum number of people):
The schedule for the shopping trips can be found at: Events
Local Malls
The closest mall to the marinas is West Mall. It is a modern mall and hosts a variety of shops. A short Maxi-Taxi ride along the western main road. A little further along the road towards Port of Spain is Movie Town Mall. An excellent movie theater with reduced price tickets on Tuesdays. Price Smart (a big-box store) is located there as well. A bit further away is the Long Circular Mall. There are many smaller specility shops not found in West Mall.
Shopping in Port of Spain and Beyond
Port of Spain
A Maxi ride also leads to Port of Spain. Being a fairly large city, Port of Spain has quite a few shopping options. The downtown area is full of all types of shops selling everything from local foods to souvenirs and clothing. The city is also home to a few open air markets selling crafts and local food items. For serious shoppers, Port of Spain also has several malls and shopping centers. Frederick Street is home to at least three malls, the Aboutique Mall, the Golden Door Plaza, and the Capital Plaza. Port of Spain's Henry Street has at least three malls as well, the Bradford City Mall, Time Plaza, and the Hadeed Center Mall. These two streets alone could keep shoppers happy for hours.
Directions and options to reach downtown Port of Spain can be found at Getting Around
East of Port of Spain
To the east of Port of Spain there are many places of interest. One of the most frequently visited is bhagwansingh's hardware. They have a store close to Port of Spain and a "super store" further to the east near the airport. There are also a number of malls to the east. The most notable is Trincity Mall not far from the bhagwansingh hardware store.
South of Port of Spain
The larger cities to the south include Chaguanas and San Fernando have many shopping opertunities. Malls: Grand Bazaar (Chaguanas), C3 Centre (San Fernando), SouthPark Mall (San Fernando), and Gulf City (La Romaine).
