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As we already told you before, shopping is one of the factors visitors came to Batam. The whole island is a duty free zone, making the prices become relatively low. The shopping scene may not be as good as in Singapore or Hong Kong, because the two islands has transformed into a mega metropolitan city. Batam however, seems rather like the two islands back in the old days, where everything was a lot unsophisticated.
Shopping Malls
Shopping malls available mostly in the larger part of Batam like Nagoya, Waterfront City and Batam Centre. And the selection is quite many. The DC Mall, Lucky Plaza, Centre Point, Batam Centre Mall, Robinson & Ramayana, and the newly built Megamall (Hypermart) is some of the places you could visit. There is also the Ralph Lauren shop which comes with extremely low prices. The items are all genuine, because it is an authorized outlet of Ralph Lauren. You can bargain in many of those shopping places above, so bargaining skill wil be very useful although language will often be a challenge.
Arts and Crafts
You may also want to check out the galleries and local decorating or souvenir shops. You may encounter some fabulous arts and crafts at bargain prices. Items like paintings, wood carvings, pottery, etchings and intricately fashioned jewellery from many part of Indonesia could be found in these shops. The quality is nonetheless excellent.
Duty Free goods
Because of the duty free zone, electronic items like cameras and cellular phones are very much cheap. But you may find it difficult to pass the Customs at the Immigration if you carried out bigger electronic appliances. Other mostly demanded items in Batam are clothing, perfumes, leather goods and confectionaries.
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