Hyde Park and Ybor City are two areas of Tampa worth some window shopping, perhaps sandwiched around lunch at one of their fine restaurants.
On the mall front, the newest player in town is the upscale International Plaza (tel. 813/342-3790; www.shopinternationalplaza.com) near Tampa International Airport, where the headliners include Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and Lord & Taylor.
Cigars -- Ybor City is no longer a major producer of hand-rolled cigars, but you can still watch artisans making stogies at the Gonzalez y Martinez Cigar Factory, 2025 7th Ave., in the Columbia Restaurant building (tel. 813/247-2469). Gonzalez and Martinez are recent arrivals from Cuba and don't speak English, but the staff does at the adjoining Columbia Cigar Store (it's best to enter here). Rollers are on duty Monday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm.
You can stock up on fine domestic and imported cigars at El Sol, 1728 E. 7th Ave. (tel. 813/247-5554), the city's oldest cigar store; King Corona Cigar Factory, 1523 E. 7th Ave. (tel. 813/241-9109); and Metropolitan Cigars & Wine, 2014 E. 7th Ave. (tel. 813/248-3304).
Shopping Centers -- Old Hyde Park Village, 1507 W. Swann Ave., at South Dakota Avenue (tel. 813/251-3500; www.oldhydeparkvillage.com), is a terrific alternative to cookie-cutter suburban malls. Walk around little shops in the sunshine and check out Hyde Park, one of the city's oldest and most historic neighborhoods at the same time. The cluster of 50 upscale shops and boutiques is set in a village layout. The selection includes Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Brooks Brothers, Crabtree & Evelyn, and Godiva, to name a few. There's a free parking garage on South Oregon Avenue behind Jacobson's department store. Most shops are open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 7pm and Sundays from noon to 5pm.
The centerpiece of the downtown seaport renovation, the huge new (it opened it 2001) mall known as Channelside at Garrison Seaport, on Channelside Drive between the Garrison Seaport and the Florida Aquarium (tel. 813/223-4250; www.channelside.com), has stores, restaurants, a dance club, a games arcade, and a multiscreen cinema with an IMAX screen.
In Ybor City, the new Centro Ybor, on 7th Avenue East at 16th Street (tel. 813/242-4660; www.centroybor.com), is primarily a dining and entertainment complex, but you'll find a few national stores here such as American Eagle, Birkenstock, and Victoria's Secret.
