Shopping LOCAL in Tucson: Fourth Avenue, the Mercado and the markets in between

Tucson has never needed a mall to feel like itself. Its most familiar shopping happens on a handful of streets where the person at the register often owns the place, and where a free streetcar ties several of them together. Sun Link runs 3.9 miles between the Mercado San Agustín district west of downtown, Downtown, Fourth Avenue, Main Gate Square and the University of Arizona, so a whole afternoon of browsing can happen without moving the car.

With the holidays coming and the weather finally on our side, here is a walk through the districts, shops and markets that keep Tucson's spending in Tucson.

Fourth Avenue, the street that runs on its merchants

Historic Fourth Avenue, between downtown and the university, is the city's best-known independent shopping street, and it has its own nonprofit to look after it. The North Fourth Avenue Merchants Association describes its job as promoting the growth of the businesses and the community around the avenue, and it organizes the events that bring the rest of Tucson there.

A good place to start is Antigone Books, an independent bookstore on the avenue that runs entirely on solar power and stocks books for children and adults alongside cards and gifts. A few doors along, Pop Cycle has been selling art and everyday goods made from recycled, reused or refurbished materials since 2008: jewelry, ceramics, prints, apparel and home goods, much of it from artists who turn castoffs into something new.

For coffee between stops, Presta Coffee's 9th Street café sits one block off Fourth Avenue. Round the corner on East 7th Street is one of Wooden Tooth Records' two shops, with new and used vinyl, CDs, cassettes, books and turntables.

Downtown and Congress Street

Fourth Avenue's southern end leads into downtown, and the streetcar makes the short hop. Wooden Tooth's second shop is on East Congress Street, and this one pairs its record bins with a beer and wine bar, which makes it as much a place to spend an evening as to shop. Congress Street is also where Sun Link carries riders west toward the Mercado, so downtown makes a natural middle leg for a day spent on foot and streetcar.

The Mercado District, west of the freeway

Across Interstate 10, along South Avenida del Convento, the Mercado District gathers open-air shopping and dining around Mercado San Agustín, the MSA Annex and two newer buildings, The Monier and The Bautista. The district's own directory lists sixteen shops: boutiques, a children's lifestyle shop, menswear, curated vintage, traditional arts, handmade moccasins, a florist, gift shops and a bike shop among them.

Book lovers should find Desierto Books in the Annex, which sells new, used and rare books and vinyl, with an emphasis on art, photography, design, literature, music and the culture of the region. The shop also buys books. Presta Coffee keeps a second café inside Mercado San Agustín itself, a useful landmark if you are meeting someone.

The Mercado is also a market destination. Its Mercado Flea Market fills the Annex on second Sundays, October through April. The district's calendar also lists the Community Food Bank's Santa Cruz River Farmers' Market on Thursday afternoons in the Annex (check the district's page before you go), and a Holiday Bazaar for December 18 to 20.

Broadway Village and the farmers markets

In midtown, at the southwest corner of Broadway and Country Club, Broadway Village is a small shopping center built in 1939 by the firm of Murphey and Joesler and carefully restored after more than seventy years of continuous use. Its tenants include Barrio Bread, the community-supported bakery known for bread rooted in Sonoran Desert grains and traditions. It opens every morning and closes when the bread runs out, so go early.

For produce, crafts and food from the people who made them, Heirloom Farmers Markets runs two markets inside Tucson: Fridays at Morris K. Udall Park on the east side and Sundays at the Food Pavilion in Rillito Park, both in the morning. Its other markets are in Oro Valley, Vail and Green Valley.

Dates for the holiday season

Between the merchants association and the Mercado, the holiday calendar is full:

• Black Friday and Small Business Saturday on Fourth Avenue, November 27 and 28
• The 57th annual Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair, December 11 to 13, with more than 350 artists, more than 40 food vendors, live entertainment and free admission
• The Mercado Holiday Bazaar, December 18 to 20
• The Mercado Flea Market, second Sundays, October through April

For the street fair, the association suggests parking in the Pennington Street, Tyndall Avenue or Plaza Centro garages, with a free shuttle from Pennington Street and the streetcar from Tyndall Avenue.

Why it matters here

What these places have in common is that they are run by people who live here and who chose Tucson subjects, materials and makers. A bookstore stocks the region's own writers, a bakery builds its bread on desert grains, a gift shop hangs work by artists from down the street. Spending an afternoon among them is the simplest way to keep those shops open, and the streetcar, the farmers markets and the second-Sunday flea make it easy to make a habit of it.