Jaw Dropping Views: Belize’s First Department Store Opens Soon & My Tropic Flight

6:30am alarm goes off.  I’ve got a mid-morning meeting in the city.

No groaning here.

Well…okay.  A tiny bit.  630am is EARLY for me in Belize.  But the perfect time to see that it is going to be a beautiful sunny morning.  The PERFECT type for the 20 minute flight from San Pedro to Belize City.

And after years of taking the NYC Subway….which does have its own kind of scenery – like the giant rat that used to greet me each morning as I waited for the 1&9 train at 5:10am to take me to mid-town – each and every time that I fly on Tropic Air…I’m in awe.

I took 100 pictures.  Probably more.  Here are a few.  And I’ll post a few more at the bottom if you didn’t get enough.

We stopped for a drop off at the new Caye Caulker airstrip.  HOORAY!  Re-opened after being closed for a year – and redone.  Flying over the reef as you take off from Caye Caulker is just gorgeous.

And the approach to Ambergris Caye?  We’ve never looked better.

Here I am going on and on about the journey – that I’m glossing over the destination.  Which was equally jaw dropping.

Seriously.  I was taking a tour of the new Mirab’s Department Store.  A gorgeous jaw droppingly gorgeous building on the Northern Highway.  A few minute taxi ride from the municipal air port in Belize City.

It was like pulling up to a Nordstorms in California.  Complete with the immaculate landscaping and tall date palms.

Three stories of bright modern chandeliers, mirrors and dense carpets, tufted upholstery, sparkling appliances, towering escalators and a huge bank of gleaming elevators.

There is a MASSIVE toy section, a luxurious shoe department for both men and women (with a store room that is about the length of San Pedro’s Front Street).

I’m not allowed to say much else.  Or show you the photos of what’s inside.

I was promised a few things.

  • That the service would be as fantastic as the large store currently in downtown Belize City.  If you’ve been there, you know what I am talking about
  • That they will be opening in October – ready to start setting up for Christmas (!)
  • That the prices will be the same as they have always been   No.  They did not fund the building of this Belize City Taj Mahal by increasing the prices for you

The third floor, which will be solely devoted to Ashley Furniture, looks out over the river in one direction and the ocean in the other.

Once this store is open, the furniture store will remain open, the downtown Belize City store will close.

If you haven’t been to the furniture spot – drop in…it’s beautiful.

Seriously.  If your mouth does not drop WIDE open on entrance to this new store – the largest retail space in Belize…I’m not sure what could impress you.

I will absolutely let you know the exact day of the opening – I plan to be there.

And now a few more pics as I took off from Caye Caulker.  The deep drop off past the reef is stunning.

 

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