The Handcraft Store in San Juan

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  Matthew Trapp

  :: 16 January 2018 16:44:28

  We had the pleasure of stumbling into The Handcraft Store right before our cruise left port. Most of the gift shops that we had seen at that point felt cheap and dirty. We were pleasantly surprised when we walked into The Handcraft Store. The walls were adorned with paintings by local artists and assorted items with local meaning and significance. It didn’t feel commercialized or cheap. The staff were informative and knew the story behind every painting and every sculpture. We ended up speaking with the owner, I believe his name was Pat Kelly, he told us the history of the store, the island and the reason he chose to move to Puerto Rico and stay there for last couple decades. It was a real cool experience and made us feel like more like friends than tourists/shoppers. We ended up buying a few items and were happy to support such a nice small business. I would recommend to anyone heading to Puerto Rico that they first check out this store before they go into any of the other cookie cutter stores.