Around the World Marketplace

Around the World Marketplace has operated near the City Gate at the entrance to St. Augustine’s historic district since 1985, making it one of the longer standing independent gift shops in the entire downtown area. Operated under the Sunburst Trading Company name, the shop built its reputation on a genuinely international selection of art, gifts, souvenirs, and home decor sourced from countries and craft traditions well beyond the typical Florida souvenir shop inventory.

The product mix reflects decades of relationships with international suppliers and artisans, including Latin American artwork and pottery, handcrafted furniture pieces, Italian sterling silver jewelry set with gemstones, handmade purses, incense, and candles. That range gives the shop an eclectic, globally minded character quite different from the colonial themed and beach themed merchandise dominating many nearby competitors, appealing to shoppers looking for something with a more worldly point of view even while visiting a distinctly American historic city.

Its location near the City Gate places it at a natural pinch point for foot traffic entering the historic pedestrian district from the north, meaning most visitors walking into St. George Street’s shopping corridor pass directly by or very near the shop entrance. Nearly four decades of continuous operation at essentially the same entry point to the historic district has allowed the business to build significant brand recognition among repeat visitors and St. Augustine regulars, many of whom specifically remember and return to the shop across multiple trips to the city over the years.

The shop also operates a sister location called The Shell Shop elsewhere in the area, suggesting an owner who has built a small but genuinely local retail operation over the decades rather than expanding into a large regional chain. That kind of organic, locally rooted growth, staying within the community rather than franchising out or selling to a larger corporate operator, keeps decision making and profits within St. Augustine. For visitors looking for jewelry, art, and home decor with genuine international sourcing and craftsmanship, and for anyone who appreciates shopping at a business with real longevity and history in the city, Around the World Marketplace offers both variety and a track record that few competitors in the historic district can match.

Long time St. Augustine residents frequently point to the shop as one of the few remaining retailers downtown that has not changed hands or concepts over the past several decades, a genuine rarity in a shopping district where storefronts often turn over every few years as new operators try their hand at the tourist trade, and that longevity has itself become part of the shop’s appeal to regulars who value continuity in a rapidly changing commercial corridor.