La Despensa
This grocery store has the typical Dominican food. They have a fresh meat (limited selection), vegetable, and deli section. Here you can get all the basic food necessities. This is the best place to buy some Dominican coffee to take back home with you. Also the alcohol is cheaper here than in the Colmados or gift shops.
If you have many bags to carry and are staying close, let a guy carry your things for you. Its inexpensive (depending usually $20 pesos is sufficient, $50 is even better!) and it helps them out also. Even if you give them a few pesos for packing your bag they will love you.
They do take credit cards.
Contact: 809-685-5599
Directions: Calle El Conde and Hostos
This super market has a wide variety of local and imported items. Many say this is the best market in the country. Also known to be one of the cleanest markets with a helpful, caring staff..
Locations: Sucursal Máximo Gómez, 809-688-4452
Sucural Lope de la Vega 809-227-2144
Sucural 27 de Febrero 809-565-5541
La Cadena
This is a smaller version on the lager market chain. They have a larger variety of food and home delivery is available. This is a more typical Dominican type food store with good sellection and prices.
Directions: Calle Cervantes and Independencia. (Near to Clinica Abreu and the PLD headquarters), Cuidad Nueva
Real Life and Times in the Dominican Republic
Businesses in and Around Colonial Zone
Colmado Los Muchachos
A great place to sit and hang out with the locals. They have some bar type stools to sit on and also enough room to sit around small tables with friends. At times there are even people dancing to some local tunes. They have a lottery machine there and also they project the Baseball games on the wall and have 2 televisions usually with some type of sports showing. Open from 7AM to 12PM.
Address: corner of Nouel and Sanchez, Colonial Zone
phone: 809-688-8406 or 809-682-9524 for home delivery service
Super Colmado Brisas del Mar
This Colmado is quite large and is usually busy, especially in the evenings. the weekend nights you can find this place usually packed full with people hanging around the outside and sitting in the park across the street. Here you can sit and enjoy the breeze coming off the Caribbean sea in front of one of the original walls of the Colonial zone. It is directly across from the
Puerta de la Misericordia/ Gate of Mercy.Also in the evening in the front of this Colmado there is a street vendor selling frituras. Frituras are a variety of fried meats and foods. Don't let the look of them scare you away. You must give them a try. They are really quite good and are a great compliment for a ice cold beer or some rum and coke.
Directions:Palo Hicado and Arzobispo Portes in Cuidad Nueva on the border of Colonial Zone
Phone: 809-682-7528
El Arca
Noé, the owner runs a great little Colmado. It is more like a bar also known as a Colmadon (a Colmado that sells more alcohol than food) The beer prices are the cheapest around the Zone. He has the "tres por ciento diez" / 3 for 110 pesos Brahama beer special while they last. you can usually see the neighbors sitting in front or in the park across the street (maybe you might even meet me there). Also, watch out for the big iguana that hangs out. He's a big one!.
Location: 19 de Marzo between the Malecon and Jose Gabriel Garcia in front of the park.
