11 Best Places to Go Shopping in Chaweng

Central Festival Samui is the main shopping haven in the ever-popular resort town of Chaweng. Here, you can find a plethora of brand-name boutiques – Camel, Adidas, AIIZ, Esprit, Jim Thompson to name just a few – as well as chain restaurants and bars such as Auntie Anne’s, Black Canyon Coffee, Haagen-Dazs and much more.

Central Festival Samui's anchor stores include Supersports (sports equipment and clothing), Central Department Store (clothing and accessories), PowerBuy (electronic sound and image equipment) and Tops Market (supermarket).

The Chaweng Walking Street is a riot of colours, sounds and scents. This is where you can haggle for items such as T-shirts, sunglasses, beach dresses, lamps, flip-flops, bags of all shapes and sizes, carved wooden souvenirs, kids’ clothing and cosmetics, among other goods.

It’s also lined with countless food stands selling grilled chicken, squid, delicious sweet boiled chicken, sticky rice, and smoothies. Everyone seems to be in good humour, making it a great place to shop in Chaweng.

Amazonas Beachwear has 2 boutiques on Chaweng Beach Road, both selling beachwear, sportswear, lingerie and fashion accessories. The larger of the 2 is an impressive 2-storey building named Amazonas 1974. This fashionable venue offers a great choice of very original clothing for both men and women.

The smaller Amazonas boutique sells house-brand Sakura and Envy beachwear, bikinis and swimsuits created by local designers and produced in Thailand. 

Named after the man who single-handedly revolutionised Thailand's silk industry, Jim Thompson sells all things silk. Shirts, skirts, jackets, ties and even cuddly toys – all come in slinky silk and are expertly cut. Jim Thompson has 2 retail shops in Chaweng: 1 on the first floor of Central Festival Samui and another at Samui International Airport. This brand is a great option if you're after quality souvenirs from Thailand. 

Classic Gems is a long-established jewellery outlet located along Beach Road in central Chaweng. It’s a member of the Thai Gem and Jewelry Traders Association. Here, you can order bespoke jewellery or choose from a wide range of original rings, necklaces, bracelets and broaches on display at the store.

Classic Gems is a reliable jewellery specialist, with certified gemstones supplied and cut at the shop's onsite factory. Each diamond has to be 20 carats and must be certified by the International Gemological Institute, which grades each stone on colour, quality and clarity.

The Chaweng tattoo scene includes many studios where you can get inked by local professionals. It’s interesting to note that local tattoo studios and nightlife entertainment venues are often close to each other. You’ll find a few tattoo parlours in Soi Green Mango.

A long-established tattoo studio is Starcat Tattoo (open since 1996), on Chaweng Beach Road. Other popular parlours include Ayodhaya Tattoo, Predator Tattoo and Extreme Tattoo. Bamboo sticks and electric machines are used according to customers’ wishes and style in most Chaweng studios.

Udom Agg Findig is the place to go if you're looking for decent quality leather products, from footwear to handbags to belts to wallets. The store also sells textiles and souvenirs of varying quality, as well as charming wooden figurines and toys. 

This weirdly-named company is, in fact, the association of 2 Thai businesses: Udom Agg takes care of the marketing from Bangkok while Findig designs and produces the leather items in Samut Prakan. It’s a brand found in most of Thailand’s major tourist hubs.

Chandra is an exotic boutique selling unique clothing and shoes, as well as handbags and fashion accessories. The boutique features funky fashion sourced from around Asia, with some exclusive designs from Bali.

Barak and Dana, the owners and main designers of the items for sale at Chandra, are free-thinkers, rejecting conformity. Their creations represent this frame of mind, with a focus on elegance and stylishness. They mostly use natural textiles such as cotton, linen and silk because of their suitability in the tropics.

Chaweng Walk is a daily market in the same vein as Chaweng Walking Street (their rather similar names can be slightly confusing). It occupies a large empty plot linking Chaweng Beach Road to the beach, with one side completely open-air and the other covered with a corrugated iron roof.

The open-air section of Chaweng Walk has a paved trail flanked by about 30 stalls selling an eclectic choice of beachwear, handcrafted souvenirs, spa oils, cheap jewellery, and souvenirs. The covered area has a food court with a dozen stalls selling Thai snacks and street food. Live Thai music takes place on a small stage set towards the beach.

Nature Art Gallery in Chaweng is founded by Micha Trav and his partner Shai Shalom Nissim. The shop specialises in fine jewellery made of precious metals and semi-precious stones, including silver and gold with agate, amber, amethyst, aquamarine, emerald.

All their creations are splendid, and those using crystals can – according to their creators’ beliefs in alternative medicines – have healing powers by balancing their wearers’ chakras. Bracelets, earrings, necklaces, pendants and rings sold at Nature Art Gallery are designed and created on-site, so you could get them done according to your taste. 

Chaweng Night Market has a fantastic array of dining options, with only a couple of stalls selling clothes and souvenirs. The market is effectively a large food court, offering authentic local Thai food, European and international favourites, as well as a couple of small bars.