i am Provincetown ~ Shopping

Shopping is anything but routine in the cosmopolitan climate of Provincetown’s summer community. Whether it’s farmer’s market or Marc Jacobs, the shopper is a very, very long way from the shopping mall. Many shops offer exquisite collections of local hand crafted merchandise or items acquired from buying trips to all corners of the world over the winter. Clothing, antiques, furniture, cooking utensils, jewelry are available in a bazaar of shops, none of them the same.

Shopping is broadly defined in Provincetown. It can be anything from buying a sweatshirt on a whale watch because you're cold to walking around the East End on Friday evenings going from gallery opening to gallery opening to gallery opening.

Gallery hopping

Are you going to be impulsive and buy a painting for your living room or are you just shopping for interesting conversation, or is it really just a movable wine tasting and cheese expedition? Are you collector of early Provincetown art? Or do you like contemporary art?

It's hard to know ~ but what we do know is that Provincetown, collectively, sells a lot of art in four months. Paintings, photographs, prints, sculptures, collages... mostly art done by Provincetown and Cape Cod artists but also national and international artists. We do have "art" for every taste! We invite you to explore, browse, take your time... If you buy art, your new treasure will be the sweetest memories of Provincetown for years to come!

Store with Everything

You can buy virtually anything in Provincetown ~ if you don't believe that just visit one shop called Marine Specialties. That's a store, a warehouse really, which puts a great deal of stress on the word 'anything.'

Many of us, however, need focus when we shop. Even when we're on vacation ~ especially when we're on vacation. You're supposed to buy gifts for the folks back home. You need a mall. Unfortunately, if you're suddenly needing familiar stores and brand recognition, that's going to be outside the 'broad' definition of shopping in Provincetown.

Yes, we do have malls

Provincetown actually has several malls, most notably 'Whaler's Wharf' and the 'Aquarium Mall.' Whaler's Wharf even has a movie house and a high end restaurant but what's inside is not a mall, it's a bazaar. You have that 'Christmas shopping in July' experience. It's that 'This is perfect for Aunt Julia and we won't find this anywhere else' sensation.

Suffice it to say that shopping 'happens' to you in Provincetown.

It's best not to be focused. It's pointless to have a shopping list. Worse ~ a shopping strategy. Just keep your eyes open and don't be afraid to explore. You won't even know it happened to you until you find yourself trudging back to the car with shopping bags in each hand.

Albert