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Duty-Free Shopping

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What is Duty-Free Shopping?

Duty-Free shopping in Barbados is shopping without the importation tax. All luxury items brought into Barbados are subject to the import tax. If purchased by non-Barbadians, who are leaving the country with the goods, the importation tax does not apply. Hence “duty-free” shopping.

All Barbados’ shopping districts have duty free stores, duty free areas, or duty free prices listed on the specific items.

— Jewellery
— Clothing
— Cosmetics
— Appliances

Each piece for sale has a tag with three different rates on them:

LP BDS$, which means the local price in Barbados (Bajan) dollars,
DF BDS$ saying duty-free cost in Barbados dollars, and the third is
DF US$, which means the tax-free amount in US dollars.

All you need to purchase merchandise at a duty-free price is your passport and plane ticket showing when you leave the island. A receipt form is printed up in triplicate so that the merchant has a copy, and you get two, one of which is to be deposited into a box at the Grantley Adams International Airport when you are leaving.

This copy that needs to be dropped off at the Barbados airport goes to the government agencies responsible for refunding the merchant with the tax he or she has already paid for the item you have bought.

Certain things cannot be purchased duty-free, such as video sets, home computers, and food. While you can buy only alcohol and cigarettes duty-free, these can only be collected from the airport as you leave to ensure that you do not consume your duty-free goods while in Barbados.

All in all, it works out very well for everyone. For the best of Barbados, you can check out our capital city of Bridgetown as well as Holetown and Speightstown, not to mention other duty-free shops scattered islandwide and in St. Lawrence Gap.

So whenever you are going out to shop in Barbados, it’s a good idea to carry your passport and ticket with you since you never know when the opportunity for duty-free shopping may pop up – and nobody likes to miss a discount.

Jewelry

You will find many, many duty-free jewelry shops in the Caribbean island of Barbados. Many shops such as Diamonds International and Colombian Emeralds International on Broad Street give you the convenience of exploring what’s on offer all on one street. With some of their duty-free discounts, you could save up to 60% on diamond jewelry than in the United States.

You will also find duty-free jewelry in the West Coast Mall, in the new Limegrove Lifestyle Centre, and some of the hotels such as The Crane Resort, Sandy Lane in St. James parish, and The Hilton Barbados in St. Michael.

If it is a watch that you are after – Diamonds International has two (2) locations in Bridgetown, one of which sells timepieces such as Hublot, Longines, Piaget, Cartier, Breitling, Bvlgari, Chopard, Dior, IWC, Montblanc, and Panerai.

You can also pay The Royal Shop in Bridgetown for a visit. You will find a large selection of designer watches at duty-free prices, such as Chopard, Maurice Lacroix, Tissot, Longines, Movado, Swiss Army, and Esquire. The Royal Shop is also the exclusive and authorized dealer of IOSi David Yurman and Marco Biego.

Little Switzerland

It is one of Bridgetown’s many gift shops, who sell watches and jewelry in Barbados.

The Limegrove Lifestyle Centre

This development opened in 2011 and is a beautiful, state-of-the-art shopping center in Holetown on the West Coast. You will find many designer clothes to choose from at duty-free prices, such as A|X Armani Exchange, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Bulgari, Cartier, and Jaeger. Here you can ‘shop ’till you drop’ and then relax in one of the lovely cafes in this luxurious shopping complex.

Cave Shepherd

The best place to find duty-free bargains is Cave Shepherd, a chain of duty-free stores, of which the largest department store is in Bridgetown. There are additional branches in the West Coast Mall, the Sunset Mall, Vista Worthing in Christ Church, and when you arrive by cruise ship at the cruise port, Bridgetown Cruise Terminal.

Cave Shepherd in Bridgetown is the sole provider of Mac makeup. You can find duty free designer labels such as Ralph Lauren, Billabong, Reef, Quiksilver, Roxy, Van, Givenchy, and Tommy. There is also duty-free jewelry in here.

One of the most popular duty-free retailers in Barbados is Harrison’s, a store within the Barbados terminal selling international perfumes and cosmetics from Lancome, Clarins, Elizabeth Arden, Estee Lauder, and Clinique. They also sell designer watches from Gucci, TAG Heuer, Christian Dior, Seiko, and Citizen.

Visit TripAdvisor to get insider reviews and tips from visitors who have taken advantage of Duty-Free shopping in Barbados.


About Totally Barbados (Edit profile)

Brett Callaghan is the founder and managing director of Totally Barbados. I specialize in writing content for the tourism industry for my island home of Barbados. I help companies build strategies to grow their businesses online with SMART marketing, advertising, and social media goals.

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