Just being on St. Thomas – an island where you can buy anything and everything within a few square blocks – renders even the most reluctant consumer powerless against the lure of duty-free shops, art galleries and boutiques. I'm more the get-in-get-out kind of buyer, but in this historic city I find myself happy to wander the huge name-brand stores and unique shops, taking my time among the quaint Dutch Colonial architecture and colossal range of products in the picturesque downtown area.

Charlotte Amalie wraps around its harbor of the same name. Once an important tax-free shipping port for the Danes, the city is now known for the megaliner cruise ships that dock here. Thousands of duty-free hungry passengers take to the gangways each day to seek out deals and to look for local products that aren't available back home. Havensight Mall fronts the cruise ship dock, but the best shopping is just a few blocks away in the historic district, where the stores beckon from the waterfront to Back Street, with Main Street in between.

The 300-year-old former warehouses, built from bricks carried as ballast in the ships from Europe, now house modern stores. The alleys that connect them are filled with strolling shoppers carrying bags instead of stevedores humping cargo. Downtown is a twist in time, offering the best products of the modern world amid a historic ambience. And with no sales tax and $1,200 of duty-free purchases allowed each U.S. resident – double the amount of other destinations in the region – it's easy to see how St. Thomas has become the shopping capital of the Caribbean.