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Visitors from as far away as Britain and Brazil often arrive in Orlando with empty suitcases for their purchases. Although shopping has all but disappeared from Downtown, the metro area is filled with options. There really is something for everyone—from high-end fashion to outlet-mall chic, from a mall filled with handmade crafts to a boutique-filled town, from an antique treasure to a hand-hewn Florida find.
The College Park area, once an antiques-hunter’s dream, still has some treasures to be found along North Orange Avenue and Edgewater Drive, including the largest vinyl-record shop in Florida.
The simultaneously glitzy and kitschy International Drive has almost 500 designer outlet stores and odd, off-brand electronics shops. The factory outlets on the north end of I-Drive once consisted of shops with merchandise piled on tables; today the shops here are equal to their higher-priced first-run cousins. The strip also has plenty of massive restaurants and, for those in your group who don't feel like shopping, movie theaters.
If you schedule your visit to Winter Park for a Saturday morning, you can begin your day at the weekly farmers' market, which takes place from 7 am to 1 pm at the city's old train depot, just two blocks west of Park Avenue. It's a bustling, vibrant market with vendors selling farm-fresh produce, dazzling flowers, and prepared foods. Pick up locally harvested honey, locally made cheese, and freshly baked croissants.
It's worth getting up early on a Saturday to amble through the local farmers' market (8 am to 1 pm), a favorite destination for food, flowers, and fellowship since 1979. Within and just outside a historical train station, some 85 vendors hawk everything from fresh vegetables and artisanal cheeses to locally produced honey and dried fruit. Eggs from Lake Meadow Naturals share space with Luna moth and swallowtail chrysalises from the “Butterfly Man” or chopped pineapple from Indian River fruit. A quick coffee and fresh croissant from the market is a great way to jump start a day of Park Avenue shopping. You can park on nearby streets and the public lots on New York Avenue and Morse Boulevard and Lyman and New England avenues.
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