Tombstone Shopping Tips by matcrazy1 Top 5 Page for this destination

G. F. Spangenberg Gun Shop: Fight crime... shoot first!

This was the first gun shop I ever visited. But this large store offers much more than guns and revolvers plus ammunition and accesories mainly of the Old West era. From floor to ceiling it's full of various items and gifts which may remind the American Old West: oil lamps, old photographs, yellow name mugs and T-shirts surely signed Tombstone, hunting knives, US national, Confederate and Arizona state flags, various stickers (including for a mailbox), books on Tombstone and the American Old West, old bottles, metal pots and dishes etc. etc. There is also part of a store which I called Victorian.

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What to buy: Look at my pictures. I paid attention to yellow name mugs, a funny sign "FIGHT CRIME, SHOOT FIRST", driving plate ARIZONA 2HOT, books, and surely guns, revolvers and knives.

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What to pay: It's a very touristy and mostly expensive store. The guns cost from $899 to over $1,000. T-shirts for an adult, I liked, cost $15. Large, yellow name mugs cost $8.99. Add sales tax.

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Address: P.O. Box 549, Tombstone, AZ 85638

Directions: At 17 S 4th Street, corner 4th & Allen Streets. Map here

Other Contact: +1 (520) 457-9229

Phone: 800 553 5281 - CALL FREE

Theme: Gifts

Madame Mustache: Wild West and homemade fudges

This store is quite large inside and offers various western gifts, T-shirts, hats, silver and turquoise jewelry, rocks and minerals, miniatures, magnets, Christmas ornaments and many more. There is also Old Tyme Photo Parlour (old photo studio) for those visitors who need to proof that they were in Tombstone. They also rent costumes and sell their homemade ice-creams and fudges. I didn't know what fudge was. So, let me explain that fudge is a type of soft candy, usually made with sugar, milk, butter and flavoring, often chocolate. The homemade Madam Mustache's fudges were offered in over 20 flavours.

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What to buy: I bought homemade fudges: chocolate walnut and chocolate covered cherry fudges. Both were very good and surely sweet - my recommendation. Well, now I would try chocolate pecan and turtle (carmel & pecans) fudges but that time I didn't know what pecan was.
I also liked some old-fashionable magnets, and some silver-turquoise jewelry.

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What to pay: Generally from reasonable to high prices. A pack of fudges (some 0.5 lb) cost about $3 as I remember well.

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Address: 455 E. Allen St,P.O. Box 156,Tombstone, AZ 85638

Directions: At Allen Street, the first paralel street south of Arizona State Road 80 (E. Fremont Street). Details in my transportation tip: Around Tombstone. Map here

Other Contact: stache@c2i2.com

Phone: +1 800 964-1746 CALL FREE

Theme: Gifts

Smoke Signals: Tobacco shop

It's a full line tobacco shop, the first and the only one I have seen in the USA. Well, generally Europe is less friendly for non-smoking folks than the USA and referring to official estimated statisctics smoking is less popular in the USA than in Europe (WHO 2000: 35% men and 22% women smoked cigarettes in the USA while 46% and 25% in Europe).

Smoke Signals offers great choice of pipes, cigars, cigarettes and accessories. It also sells walking canes, bar accessories, steins and flasks, newspapers, Harley Davidson items and many more.

The name of this store originates from a form of visual communication used over a long distance by Native Americans. Tobacco (a plant) is indigenous to the Americas. Native Americans smoked tobacco in pipes long before the arrival of Europeans. Tobacco was introduced to Europe from the Americas in the 16th century and spread around the world rapidly. Native Americans in both North and South America also chewed the leaves of the plant, frequently mixed with lime. Chewing is one of the oldest ways of consuming tobacco leaves.

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What to buy: I paid attention to mostly unknown to me smokeless tobacco products once (and maybe still?) used by Native Americans. I've seen round, little tins of snuff (tobacco powder for breaathing into a nose - illegal in most of European Union except Scandinavia as I know). Add chewing tobacco sold in bags as fresh loose leaf chew. A year later, during my trip around 12 southern states, I got to know that chewing tobacco, although less and less common, remains popular in the American South and continues to spark controversy.

I was surprised to see a few tenths brands of cigars including surely Cuban ones but also cigars from Peru, Nicaragua, Honduras and Jamaica. I was also surprised to see flavoured cigarettes of unknown to me flavours like amaretto and coffee. Their offer of US and imported cigarettes is impressive.

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What to pay: Tobacco products are generally very expensive in the USA. For budget visitors: lighters cost from a few bucks to over $30.

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Address: 427 E. Allen St., Tombstone, AZ 85638

Directions: At Allen St. (between 4th and 5th St.), the first paralel street south of Arizona State Road 80 (E. Fremont Street). Details in my transportation tip: Around Tombstone. Map here

Phone: +1 (520) 457-9020

Theme: Other

Arlene's Southwest Trading and Gallery: Beautiful Native American silver jewelry

Arlene's Southwest Trading at 400-404 East Allen Street (picture 1-3) sold Native American made silver, gold and turquoise jewelry as well as a wide selection of Native American made pottery, sandpaintings, kachinas (Indian dolls - fetishes), artifacts and storytellers.

Arlene's Gallery across a street at 415 East Allen Street (picture 4) sold Native American jewelry, wall art and gifts from all over the world.

Both silver and turquoise are local materials in southern Arizona. Tombstone became a boomtown in 1880' thanks to silver mines. The Southwest United States, including southern Arizona, has been a significant source of turquoise since pre-Columbian times.

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What to buy: I liked especially some Native American silver-turquoise jewelry at Arlene's Southwest Silver & Gold. I saw large silver-turquoise rings similar to that, my wife had bought in Tubac a few hours before (see picture 5).

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What to pay: Reasonable or expensive, depend on what you look at. Silver-turquoise, Native American jewelry wasn't surely cheap, it was mostly a bit more expensive than in Tubac.

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Address: 415 East Allen Street, Tombstone, AZ 85638

Directions: Allen Street is the first paralel street south of Arizona State Highway 80 (E. Fremont Street). Details in my transportation tip: Around Tombstone. Map here

Other Contact: arlenes@theriver.com

Phone: +1 (520) 457 3833

Theme: Jewelry