Shopping in Corfu is a splendid pastime! With something for all tastes be it a few tourist trinkets, top class hand made jewellery or hand made barrels!, there is something for everyone.
Particular specialities of Corfu are anything to do with olives including olive woodcarvings, olive oil and olive soaps, Kumquat (a sweet traditional liquour particular to the island), lace, embroidery and jewellery.
Many of the souvenir shops have some lovely goods if you look closely. With a wide variety of pottery, jewellery and small sculptures based on ancient Greek classical design you can pick up some very attractive and unusual items at reasonable prices. Also if you like jewellery there are some really beautiful pieces available, once again if you look. The gold is all of 14carat and above and is often sold by weight and there is a good selection of silver jewellery or silverware in attractive designs.
Corfu town is naturally the best place to shop with a huge variety of stores to choose from many of the best hidden down the little side streets of the old town. Here you will find art studios, hand made leatherwear stores, hand made jewellery studios, local honey co-operatives, lots of little shops with traditional seamstresses, cobblers, tobacconists, ironmongers and bakeries. Amongst these you will find the more traditional 'tourist' shops with an enormous range of souvenirs, and you will find plenty of your more 'everyday' shops such as boutiques, shoe shops some very nice music and book stores etc.
Every morning except Sunday there is a large and lively fresh fish and fruit and vegetable market that livens up the street just below the New Fortress walls in Corfu. As well as being a great place to pick up genuine fresh local produce at good prices it is worth a visit to adsorb the bustling busy atmosphere.
Kassiopi is also a pleasant place for shopping with a good range of shops selling both traditional and more modern wares and almost all resorts have a few very good shops hidden away amongst the souvenir stores. It is sometimes worth stopping in the villages too. Here you occasionally find a genuine artist selling his or her wares by the side of the road. This is particularly the case with olive wood. Often you will find unique pieces of work this way. There are also various larger leather, wood, ceramic and kumquat shops on the main roads around Corfu town that are worth a quick stop.
