A big appeal when first arriving to Panama was the low price of items such as clothing, shoes, house wares, linens and décor. But after a few experiences of purchasing cheaply priced and made clothing
from various department stores in Panama I realized that here you definitely get what you pay for in terms of apparel. Among the masses of similarly styled and manufactured clothing I was able to find a store that appealed to my more eclectic and crafted sense of style.
When entering Via Vai Boutique one is almost immediately hit with warm colorful “good vibrations” as I described to fellow shoppers. The layout of the store has a comfortable boutique feel while remaining organized, well lit, and staffed with friendly smiling faces. Their collections range from new age bohemian to Jaclyn Kennedy-esque and the quality is always above par in comparison to other shops in Panama. With walls lined of soft distressed denim and patchwork floral tops as well as tables and shelves covered in feathery accessories, jewel toned stilettos, sparkly baubles and unique leather bags, there is little not to love about Via Vai.
My personal favorite location is in Mall Multiplaza, Punta Pacifica. However, they have locations in Multicentro, on Via Espana, and in Albrook Mall. Phone numbers and special offers can be seen on their website at www.viavaipanama.com but you can’t order from their site. I recommend you make the trip and enjoy the store for yourself. I almost guarantee you will leave with a lighter wallet but a lovelier wardrobe piece with style and stability
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“low price of items”? Go back to the U.S.
why don’t you check out how much Oakley sunglasses cost down here (and I recently made a purchase in the O-Store (ie. Oakley’s official store) in a mall in the Dallas area, in the States), and compared them to the “Oakley” sunglasses I had bought in the “official” ‘Oakley’-store here in Panama (which is located in the movie-theater/restaurant/arcade-complex “Extreme Planet”, which is located in “Avenida Balboa”, aka. “Balboa Avenue”), and it turns out, THE OAKLEYS I BOUGHT DOWN HERE ARE FAKES (ie. fake Oakleys, “faukleys”, whatnot). they have distortion, the polarization is the pits, the “O matter”-material is fake, basically, EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM IS FAKE. (and the price for the sunglasses was TRIPLE what they cost me in the States!)
secondly, computers, digital cameras, laptops, televisions, dvd-players, blu-ray disc players, blu-ray discs, dvd discs, etc. ALL OF THEM are WAYYY MORE EXPENSIVE here in Panama than in the States.
so please don’t say that everything is cheaper in Panama than in the States, because IT’S NOT. even GASOLINE (especially if you were to look at gasoline prices back during the Clinton-Administration days and then come down to Panama to see what gasoline prices were like) are CHEAPER IN THE STATES, THAN IN PANAMA. AND, fast food restaurants. DON’T EVEN GET ME *STARTED* on the prices and variety of menus that there are down here. the prices are CHEAPER, AND you have more variety, IN THE [FAST-FOOD MENUS] [IN FAST-FOOD RESTAURANTS IN THE] STATES, than in Panama.
and the ironic thing is, the Oakley salesmen of the store here in Panama kept on claiming that their sunglasses are “genuine”, and that they are imported directly from “Oakley itself” (which, upon further investigation, is the Oakley-branch in Mexico, which distributes to Mexico and Latin America (“Latin” America is anything south of the Rio Grande, by the way. which includes, all of Mexico, Central America, and SOUTH America, by the way). which shows that Mexico [Oakley branch] is producing FAKE Oakleys. and/or, distributing FAKE Oakleys. or at the very least, that something funny (“funny” as in strange and odd. not “funny” as in hilarious) is going on.
I took them back to the O-Store in the Dallas area where I had gone to previously, and the salesmen identified the “Oakley” sunglasses I bought in Panama as clear fakes, despite the fact that they have the “model number stamped in the inside part of the temple, as real Oakleys would also have”. which means, the Oakley sunglasses sold at the “official” “Oakley”-store here in Panama, and at any store here in Panama where you will find a display-case that has Oakley sunglasses in them (Panafoto, Sanborns, Farmacias Arrocha, etc), are actually FAKES.
so, a word of caution: DO NOT BUY OAKLEY SUNGLASSES DOWN HERE. THEY ARE *FAKES*
All I know is Via Vai is almost the the prices were even better!!!! I wish I had this store in the states for sure!!! Fantastic experience!!!