Island Shopping

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The island of Mauritius is a tropical paradise: a sugarcane-and-coconut-palm-covered volcanic dot in the Indian Ocean. It's fast becoming a shopper's paradise, too.

Mauritius has produced textiles for more than three decades, supplying Europe and the U.S. with designer clothing. But over the past few years many of these same garments have become available for purchase on the island itself.

Clothing shops freckle the island, which is just 1,900 sq km in size. In the village of Arsenal on the northwest coast, for instance, you can buy Hugo Boss and DKNY polo shirts for around $16 — much cheaper than the West's retail price of $65. Bargain hunters should also head to other shopping villages such as Curepipe or Rose Hill in central Mauritius. The trick is to seek out the best deals and sales — and negotiate hard if you buy more than one item.

The island's real clothing hot spot is the twice-weekly market in Quatre Bornes. Held every Thursday and Sunday, the market offers real steals on designer-label garments with often imperceptible flaws. While Mauritius hardly rivals shopping magnets such as Hong Kong or Dubai, it's growing. The island's government recently announced that it wants to turn Mauritius into a duty-free destination by dropping tax on clothes sold locally. The scheme, which will be implemented over the next four years, has already inspired plans for new shopping malls and factory outlets, to be built in what are now sugarcane fields. There will certainly be some sweet deals to be had.