Came back yesterday and was surprised to see how many units are empty (never opened) or have closed since I was last through in November 2014.
The greatest loss in the Fuerteventura Craft shop which sold local Fuerteventura products and, for me, cheese and occasionally salt. The cheese was always a "must buy". A kilo, brought home, cut into 125g wedges and then vac packed and frozen lasted me until the next trip. The price was the same as in the island supermarkets, around 14 euros a kilo.
With the closure of the craft shop, the only place to buy cheese in Canariensis duty free shops and they are charging 12.95 euros - FOR 500g!!!!
You can buy Fuerteventura Goat's Cheese in any small supermarket. You need to get out of Caleta or Corralejo to get non-tourist prices.
The airport shops are a rip-off. Don't even go there.
I am fully aware of the "less than value for money" status of the airport shops and the loss of the craft shop and the consequent increase in the price of cheese in the those shops is an result.
In the absence of competition, Canariensis charges what it can for goods to a captive (and not very discriminating) audience.
I know that the going price for Guradamin Semi-Curado was14 euros a kilo in the Corralejo supermarkets because I looked on my last trip into town. This is the price that the Craft shop and Canariensis were charging at the airport on my November 2014 visit.
What is the best "non-tourist" price you have found and where?
And how much should I add on to that price to account for carhire/taxi/bus costs to get that price?
Quote from: hairybiker on June 21, 2015, 20:12:00 PM
And how much should I add on to that price to account for carhire/taxi/bus costs to get that price?
About 8e return, by bus from Corralejo to El Cotillo. They run on the hour. You can pick up your cheese at the supermarket, next to the football stadium in Cotillo, after a day at the lagoons. Just a thought.
Why not treat yourself to a trip around some of the artisan goat farms where they make their own cheese. The Cabildo have a guide booklet if you can find one, I think there are twenty odd dotted about the island
If you have access to a car could we suggest a couple of hours at the cheese museum (Museo del Queso Majorero) located in Antigua. For the bargain entrance fee of â,¬2 you can be the font of all cheese knowledge. There are interactive screens on how the island was formed and go inside a windmill and walk through the gardens which are full of enormous cacti.
In the gift shop you can sample all of the different cheeses from all over the island. You can then buy your chosen cheese which seem to be a similar price to what you would find in all the larger supermarkets e.g. Hiperdino and Mercadona.
Quote from: LAshire on June 22, 2015, 10:25:10 AM
If you have access to a car could we suggest a couple of hours at the cheese museum (Museo del Queso Majorero) located in Antigua. For the bargain entrance fee of â,¬2 you can be the font of all cheese knowledge. There are interactive screens on how the island was formed and go inside a windmill and walk through the gardens which are full of enormous cacti.
I don't have access to a car
Quote from: LAshire on June 22, 2015, 10:25:10 AM
You can then buy your chosen cheese which seem to be a similar price to what you would find in all the larger supermarkets e.g. Hiperdino and Mercadona.
I asked Woe the question about "local" price and have not yet had an answer. I know that Hyperdino and Mercadona charge about 14 euros a kilo
Woe must still be out researching "non-tourist" prices!!
You can buy Fuerteventura Goat's Cheese in Hiperdino for â,¬9.97 per kilo. I haven't looked, but I doubt very much if the likes of Mercadona sell proper Goat's Cheese made here.
There's a little Butchers shop next to the Farmacia in Antigua that sells cheese made in Las Pocetas, which is next to Triquivijate. There again I don't know the price, but it's gorgeous.
Got it wrong last time I tried to buy some cheese, I thought I asked for a quarter of a kilo but nope, I apparently asked for four kilo, much to the amusement of the other customers. A kind lady came to my aid when she had stopped laughing. I just got the pre packed after that.
Quote from: zedzedeleven on June 24, 2015, 16:50:13 PM
Got it wrong last time I tried to buy some cheese, I thought I asked for a quarter of a kilo but nope, I apparently asked for four kilo, much to the amusement of the other customers. A kind lady came to my aid when she had stopped laughing. I just got the pre packed after that.
Quatro kilos ;D ;D ;D ;D
Once asked for a dry martini in a Jandea AI. They thought I was German and Mrs Magoo ended up sloshed
I found the best chees direct from the farm and dairy at Finca Pepe near Bethancuria
See http://www.fincapepe.com/en
They do great paprika flavour.
I don't know the price but it is more expensive than the supermarkets, but way better quality and flavour
You get to walk around the farm see the goats and depending on what time you visit you can see the milking of the goats. There are a pair of old camels there also who love their pictures being taken and even pose for you.
They also have a shop selling other Canarian products, like goats milk liqueur, cactus jam, mojo sauces....
To Hairybiker, despite the debate about airport shopping which your original post has prompted, we were also sorry to hear about the closure of the craft shop in departures. It was the first shop we always went to, to see some genuine Canarian produce, rather than the rip-off Aldeasa superstore etc.
When we went through in March there was a notice on the door of their previous unit saying that it was relocating to some new units at the far end of departures. We went down for a look but none of those units were occupied at that time, but left hoping it would be there when next we visit.
Hopefully there's just been some kind of delay (surely not in Fuerteventura I hear you all saying!) and it will re-open eventually.
Fred, I suspect that a lack of trade (and probably high overheads) has forced the closure of the shop. It is no longer listed on the Museums website at
http://www.artesaniaymuseosdefuerteventura.org/
They were very helpful in getting salt for me last November, when I arranged to pick 2 kilos up at the airport shop.
Woe, "You can buy Fuerteventura Goat's Cheese in Hiperdino for â,¬9.97 per kilo." That's a very good price. Was that the pre-pack price or the deli counter price? When I looked it was â,¬16.00 per kilo for Guradamin.
The airport Duty Free shop is cheap. Tobacco and Spirits are cheaper than any shop or supermarket I have seen in Caleta. There are loads of local chesses for Sale in the Atlantico Euro Spar great value.
Hi Hairybiker
I'm not sure if I have the exact shop that you're referring to correct - used to be on the right-hand side just before the open-plan eating area (by the toilets) and sold Canarian produce, cheeses, wine, plants and Cacti, camels :o, hats, full-sized costumes, dolls in traditional dress etc. ?
If that's the one that you miss then I'm sure it has re-located to the opposite end of the departure hall around gates 22 - 24 and is probably now the very last shop - keep going past Popkins pizza and burger outlet and Pans & Co. sandwich bar and you should find it. It was there and open in May of this year.
As an alternative was it called ' Delicious '?
http://www.aena.es/csee/Satellite/Aeropuerto-Fuerteventura/en/LTDA_FA/1237542023979/1048858925099/Delicious.html?other=1237552998163
Gone Fishing,
Yes I think that's the one- it was certainly the one I was referring to in my post. Good to hear that it did in fact relocate to the new units at the far end.
GoneFishing, Delicious is the Canariensis food outlet and it is still there (and over priced!) , but it is not the one I was talking about.
It used to be on the ground floor at the bottom of the escalators after security. You could easily miss it. When they increased size of the security area, it moved upstairs to the left hand end (if you are facing AWAY from the runway) around gates 23/24
It then moved to the first (and was the only occupied) unit in the new departures area (between gates 9 and 12, beyond Pans & Co) and has now gone altogether. Although, if you hit "SEE MAP" from the page in your link, it shows up in the list in its old (left hand end) location. But it wasn't there. I assumed the map was out of date, but, curiously, it does show Haagen Daaz which I thought was new since November.
I don't think that it is a temporary closure, because Canariensis have been quick off the mark to jack up the price of cheese in the absence of competition. As I said, a great loss
Edited as I have always had a problem with Left and Right!!!
Why not buy 9 kilo of quality cheese at a farm and send it as a postal parcel to your home address?
Agree with Can the man, we stumbled upon the goat farm on the way to Betencuria in January fantastic place had many samples will be going back week after next and will ask about prices, couldn't believe that in all the times we have been to the island and Betancuria we missed it, think I have mentioned it in an earlier thread.l.
Quote from: erik_tonny on June 27, 2015, 18:04:49 PM
Why not buy 9 kilo of quality cheese at a farm and send it as a postal parcel to your home address?
Oh yes. Unrefridgerated? Sounds like a good idea - NOT!!!. And what would I do with 4 and half years supply, let alone how would I make room in the freezer? I can eat a kilo in about 6 months.
Guradamin semi-curado is a perfectly acceptable Fuerteventura (Villaverde) produced cheese. There may be artisan, farm produced cheeses that have a better (subjectively) flavour and which may be sold at the "farm gate" at a lower price, but Guradamin is widely available and the going (Hyperdino) rate is â,¬14 per kilo.
So I buy a kilo cheese in Hyperdino, keep it in the hotel mini-bar, pack it for travel in suitcase, bring it home, unwrap it, cut it into 250g octants, vacuum pack it in single servings and put it in the freezer. Total cost â,¬14
Or, take a day out of my holiday, rent a car, drive all over the island to a selection of farms to assess quality and prices. Buy cheese and then proceed as above. Say â,¬10 for the cheese, â,¬50 car hire, â,¬???? fines and police bribes. Total cost â,¬60 + "extras" + 1 lost day (value about â,¬100)
Or, go to my local farmers market in the UK and buy a Majorero (of unknown brand and provenence) cheese at â,¬50 per kilo. Cost â,¬50
Or buy 2 X 500g Guradamin at Canariensis at airport (after security), place in hand baggage (which has already been weighed). Get home, treat as above. Total cost â,¬25.90. This is the easiest option, and the price difference in less than I spend on beer each day!! However it is contributing to the profits of Canariensis which is where I have a problem.
I started this thread to warn people that the Craft Shop at the airport is no longer open and the Canariensis are using this as an opportunity to profiteer on the sale of local cheese. People can then make up their own minds on how to acquire their cheese rations
Coming back through Fuerte airport last Wednesday, I note that even more of the shops have closed.
No great loss, but not surprising when you look at what the "duty free" shops are charging.
The local HyperDino Express had Gordons 47.5% at 11.07 euros for a plastic one litre bottle (and very acceptable it was too!).
The airport duty free had only Gordon 37.5% at 12.65 euros for a glass one litre bottle. They also had Larios in plastic bottles for just over 10 euros (the label has been changed, is this the same as it used to be?)
Seems like the duty free shops are only targetting those who
a) don't want to pack liquids in checked baggage,
b) those who naively think that duty free will be cheaper and
c) those with hand baggage only.
I suspect that these targets groups will not be large enough to maintain their profits at a level where they can justify paying the rents that the airport would be demanding, and will consequently close down completely.
But maybe group b) is large enough
More likely those in group C these days ;)
â,¬3.05 airside for a 500ml bottle of coke? Dearer than a small bottle of wine!
The rents at the Airport must be horrendous. "Duty Free" is a big con, never buy anything at the Airport.
Cheaper in the resorts. Dixons electrical goods at Gatwick is a joke.
Next clothing at Manchester terminal one is much cheaper than the high street
I went in to our local Boots branch looking for some new shades for our trip this autumn. Staff had stripped the shelves for the seasonal range change. They told me that all the unsold shelf stock was uplifted and sent on to the airport branches. So it's likely to have been double-handled and ex-display.
Loved seeing the goats at the bentacuria cheese place but was disappointed in selection of cheese in the shop. If anyone gets the chance to visit the annual Feaga well worth a visit and great ranges of cheese that you cannot seem to buy anywhere - I can recall having a great tasting one covered in herbs - perhaps they were from different islands 🐐🧀🍷
Duty free but not profit free is my mantra.
I always check the in air prices on the way out and compare with supermarket prices on Fuerte.
I then know if I want to use the duty free or not on the way out.