One of the first things that expats who move to Belize have to confront is the differences between shopping in Belize and what they were used to in North America. Belize does not have any big box stores, such as Walmart, Costco, or Target, and even the larger grocery stores here are quite different from what most people were accustomed to at home.
In this article, we take a look at everything from basic grocery shopping to looking for larger-ticket items like furniture and appliances. And, of course, we tackle the question that so many folks who are thinking about moving to Belize ask: “Does Amazon ship to Belize?”
One important factor related to shopping in Belize, and this applies to any imported product one purchases, whether you buy it in a shop in Belize, or ship it into the country, is that there is a tariff, often fairly high, levied on nearly everything brought into the country.
Thus, if one wants to completely replicate a North American lifestyle in terms of the grocery items and other household items you purchase, you will pay a real premium for these imported goods, most often paying much higher prices than you would find in the US or Canada.
Grocery shopping in Belize
Many expats who have recently moved to Belize from North America cite grocery shopping as one of their greatest adjustments. Unlike in the US or Canada, there isn’t any one-stop grocery shopping in Belize.
In most fairly large towns, there will will be several larger grocery stores, where you will find staples like rice, flour, sugar, milk, bread, and packaged items, such as pasta, canned goods, and household cleaning supplies, but you will likely need to make additional stops for produce, fruit, and meats.
One thing to always remember when shopping in Belize, stores are not re-stocked as often as in North America, so if you see a product you really want, make to sure to buy it right away, as it might be months before it appears again. In my case, this usually means a buying spree when I see a certain type, or size, of cat food and cat litter.
Chicken is one of the staple foods in Belize, and there are two large suppliers of chicken products here: Caribbean Chicken and Quality Poultry, these companies each have nine locations in the larger towns throughout the country. I buy chicken and pork products from Caribbean Chicken.
Along with chicken and pork, I tend to eat a lot of eggs, and when I lived in San Pedro, I was disappointed by rotten eggs from a few vendors, but once I started buying flats of eggs from Caribbean Chicken, I never had another bad egg!
There are also smaller butcher shops in many towns, some of which make their own sausages, and some of the smaller shops also carry products from one of the specialty farms. Recently, I have seen a local butcher in Corozal offering buffalo meat, something I remember eating years ago, but I may need to give it another try.
As a rule, the larger-scale producers of beef products in Belize sell meat that is significantly different from that which is sold in North America. There are different species of livestock raised here, and the cattle feed is different, so the red meat tends to be much more lean, without the juicy cuts that one might be used to in the US and Canada. While chicken is fairly inexpensive in Belize, beef can also be more expensive than in North America. I think that I have eaten red meat only about four or five times over the past five years here.
Grocery prices may be considerably higher on the cayes than on the mainland, but unless you are in an area of the mainland with more tourists or expats, you may not find nearly as many imported food and household items.
I tend to buy local items or products made in Mexico, but if you have any specific needs or wants concerning food or household items, living in some more rural places on the mainland, you may have to drive a good distance to find what you are looking for.
Where I live in Corozal, many people drive to Chetumal, where there is a Walmart, Sam’s Club, etc. However, while one still needs to pay tariff on the items they bring back to Belize, there is a much larger selection of goodies across the border in Mexico. Also, one needs to check with Customs, as some food products are not permitted to be brought across the border from Mexico without a special permit.
How long will it take to do my grocery shopping in Belize?
At first, it will seem that it takes forever to go on a weekly shopping run, as there are generally at least three or four stops which one needs to make to find everything that they are looking for. For example, most towns have a fairly large number of fruit and produce stands, so it might take a while for you to find a stand that generally has the things you like to use.
Fruit and produce stands
There are a few basics to know about shopping for fruit and produce in Belize. First, many fruits and vegetables are seasonal, so you will only be able to get these for a limited time. Two favorites which I can think of are avocado and mango.
Unlike box stores in the US, you won’t find avocados to make your avo toast year-round here in Belize! And mango season lasts only about a month, so get them when you see them. I am fortunate enough to have three mango trees, so for several months per year, I eat mango every day.
Another important thing that you will learn over time is what day of the week that fruit stands get their deliveries from the farmers. In San Pedro, this is really important, as the barge only delivers to the island twice a week, so if you don’t go shortly after a delivery, the shelves at your local fruit stand can be pretty bare on the island.
Finally, remember, while local fruit, such as bananas, watermelon, papaya, melon, pineapple, mango in season, oranges, and grapefruit, among others, are reasonably inexpensive, imported fruits like apples, strawberries, blueberries, and other fruits which grow in cooler climates, can be extremely expensive. Lots of folks suffer sticker shock when they hear the price of just a few imported items from a fruit stand. I generally stick to local, tropical fruit, which is in season.
As with fruit, produce which is grown locally, or perhaps brought in from Mexico, will be far less expensive than anything from North America. One can almost always find the basics: onion, tomato, potato, fresh cilantro, cucumber, zucchini, green pepper, habaneros, carrots, spinach, etc. However, it is far more difficult, if not impossible at times, to find high-end specialty lettuce and other greens, or many of the more specialty veggies one might find at a Whole Foods. It really is more of a back-to-the-basics produce shopping experience here in Belize.
Shopping in Belize for small appliances and housewares
As far as small appliances are concerned, every fairly large town in Belize will have a number of hardware stores, and this is where you will likely find small kitchen appliances such as blenders, coffee makers, mixers, and many others. And larger grocery stores in the biggest towns may also sell some appliances. You will likely notice that prices can be a lot higher than you would expect from Target or Walmart in North America, but remember, the government of Belize levies a tariff on everything imported into the country.
Another thing to note is that even though you may see some familiar brand names in Belize, some companies ship export quality merchandise into Belize, and this can mean that even though you recognize the brand name, the quality of the product may be inferior to what you might find in your home country.
Along with the large number of local hardware stores offering small appliances in Belize, there are a couple of larger, national companies which sell a variety of small and large appliances. The most well known of these is Courts, and Courts is well known throughout the Caribbean.
According to their website:
Courts currently operates 93 stores in 11 Caribbean countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
Courts website
Courts also has both a Service and Parts department in Belize, and may be one of the few appliance stores which offers warranty service.
Shopping in Belize for large home appliances
Like for smaller appliances, there are many single-unit shops in Belize which sell large home appliances, and in the larger towns like Belmopan, Orange Walk, Corozal, San Pedro, and of course, in Belize City, there are some large hardware stores which carry a full range of large home appliances as well. With all of the development on Ambergris Caye, this is especially true in San Pedro.
As mentioned above, Courts in a national player in the appliance market, and LP Gas & Supplies also sells both small and large appliances, as well as some commercial equipment, from three outlets across the country, and they are able to ship to many places.
One factor to think about with both small and large appliances in Belize is that appliances with fewer electronics fare better in this environment than fancier gadgets. The voltage of the electricity supply from the grid here can fluctuate at times, and this is not good for electronics.
Also, the hot, humid climate, combined with salt in the air if you are near the coast, really does a number of electronics. I have decided that when I need to replace my stove or washing machine, for example, I will buy appliances with only analogue controls, buttons and dials, and no electronics.
For both expensive home appliances and for all personal electronic devices, I recommend the use of a fairly heavy-duty circuit protector at the wall sockets. I have had friends lose TVs, refrigerators, and other appliances and devices to voltage fluctuations. For more on the electricity grid here in Belize check out our article on Power Outages in Belize.
Shopping in Belize for furniture
For those who are not purchasing or renting a fully-furnished place when they move to Belize, the first decision that many expats need to make is whether they are going to ship their furniture to Belize or buy something once they are in country. Those on the Qualified Retirement Program often consider shipping furniture, as one of the primary benefits of the program is the ability to ship personal effects into Belize duty free.
Just like for appliances, as discussed above, the climate in Belize can be really hard on furniture that is not designed for use in the tropics. Much of the furniture made for the North American market will likely not hold up in Belize very well, unless one runs the A/C all of the time, and this can be a very expensive undertaking in Belize.
Like for major appliances, one can look for furniture in some smaller shops in the towns closest to their new homes in Belize, or they can look to one of the big players, such as Courts. There is also one other retail option for furniture in Belize, and this store is unique in that it is the granddaddy of department stores in Belize, which has a separate location for their furniture showroom: Mirab Furniture Gallery.
The Mirab Department store is in a category of its own, as it is the Belizean version of the Manhattan flagship Macy’s store, with a separate furniture showroom. Mirab is an official Ahsley Furniture distributor in Belize, and they also offer small and large appliances, home electronics, and many other items for the home. Both the department store and furniture gallery are located in Belize City; however, they can arrange shipping anywhere in Belize.
Custom-made furniture in Belize
Now that we have looked at the biggest players for furniture shopping in Belize, I have to mention what I think is likely the best way to furnish a home in Belize. Like for many things in Belize, if one is able to exercise some patience, they are likely to be a lot better off in the long run, and this is also true for purchasing furniture for your new place in Belize.
In some areas of Belize, there are established Mennonite communities, and in many of these areas, there are furniture shops in which you will find some samples of the types of hardwood furniture which can made to order. The Mennonites are likely the least expensive of the custom hardwood furniture options, and I believe that in most cases, even the less expensive Mennonite furniture will hold up much better in the climate here than furniture made for the North American market.
Aside from the Mennonite communities, there are skilled Belizean carpenters and cabinet makers in many parts of Belize, and these guys also take commissions for custom furniture orders. I think that you might find some slightly more exotic and interesting hardwoods from the cabinet makers than from some of the Mennonite shops.
When I was building out two new rental apartments in San Pedro, I had a carpenter in the Cayo district make all of my hardwood furniture for the apartments to order, and when he finished making the furniture, he drove it to Belize City and put it on the barge for San Pedro. I then had an upholsterer in San Pedro make cushions for me, and even with the price of shipping everything to San Pedro, I know that I got a much better product than what I could have bought from Mirab, at approximately half the price.
Does Amazon ship to Belize?
The short answer here is no. However, this does not mean that one can’t order products from Amazon and have them shipped to Belize. There is just an intermediate step which you have to take.
In order to order from Amazon and have your orders shipped to Belize, you need to place your Amazon order, and then have it shipped to a freight consolidator in the US, who will then ship your items to you in Belize. Of course, these orders incur additional expense, as you will pay for both the tariff charged by the government, and the shipping service to Belize. In general, freight forwarders will give you a quote inclusive of both shipping and tariff.
In northern Belize, many expats use Belizean Queen Freight to have their Amazon orders shipped to them, and it appears that they are currently making weekly shipments to Belize. I have not ordered anything from Amazon in nearly four years, but while I do hear or read about hiccups in the system on occasion, most folks in Corozal seem pretty happy with Belizean Queen.
I have also both spoken with and have read about people using Arrow Freight, which is a company with its Belize office in Spanish Lookout, and Joseph Freight, which has its Belize office in San Ignacio.
I am fairly sure that there are other freight consolidating companies which folks use to get their Amazon gear sent to Belize, and if you are an expat here, and you have any suggestions, either contact me directly, or put your recommendations in a comment below.
As I mentioned above, I have not ordered anything from Amazon in quite some time, so I don’t have any recent experience. However, from the time I was building out the rentals in San Pedro, and from what I hear about shipping from others, it seems that with freight costs and tariff, one pays, on average, about a 30% premium over Amazon Prime prices to get their items shipped here. Of course, remember different items, such as more expensive electronics, may have higher tariffs
Final Thoughts on Shopping in Belize
Shopping in Belize, like many other aspects of life here, rewards patience. Since there are no box stores at which to buy items like small kitchen housewares, large appliances, or home furnishings, one needs to really take the time to learn about what is available, and to remember, in many cases, even if there is a small selection where you live in Belize, this is a small country, so it is often possible to ship things within Belize from other areas at a reasonable cost.
Whether shopping for your favorite brand of imported grocery items, or a brand-name appliance, one must always remember that everything which is shipped into the country is subject to a fairly significant tariff, so a premium will always be paid for imported goods.
I have met retirees here who are fairly well-off financially, and they order often and heavily from Amazon, so they are able to use many of the products which they have always used at home. And one is certainly able to find some items on Amazon that are not available in Belize at all. Also, there may be some products for which the Amazon-delivered price might be better that the best price one finds in Belize.
For one of the highest-ticket items one might purchase in Belize, furniture, I think that this is where patience really pays off. There are so many craftsman here who can make hardwood furniture which is much better suited to the climate than anything that you could ship in or buy from the Ashley Center at Mirab’s. Talk to other expats, and ask questions in the Belize Facebook Groups before just taking the easy way out and purchasing something off of the showroom floor.
One high-ticket item which I have not discussed in this article, purchasing a car in Belize, is too complex to be included here, but we have published a stand alone article on Buying a Car in Belize.
I must disclose that the names of the stores which I cite in the article are in no way meant to be exhaustive. They are simply examples of some of the largest or most common retailers in certain categories. Belize City is the commercial capital of the country, and aside from the building supply companies there, I do not know much about shopping options in the city. While there are few expats who settle in Belize City, many do order items from businesses there.
Finally, from the time when I was preparing for my move to Belize, I will always remember one piece of advice I received from a very long-term expat in Belize: “Everything you need to live in Belize can be found in Belize, wants, on the other hand . . .”
If you are considering a move to Belize, you might want to check out our articles on Permanent Residency in Belize, and Living on an Island or on the Mainland of Belize. And for a complete list of all of our information about making the move and living in Belize, check out our Belize FAQs Blog Page.