The Handcraft Store

The Handcraft Store has operated on Calle Fortaleza, one of Old San Juan's main artisan-shopping streets, for more than 26 years, owned by Harold Hernandez under the tagline 'Por Encima de Los Gandules.' Like its neighbors on the same street, it stakes its identity on locally made work rather than imported souvenirs, gathering prints, paintings and mosaics alongside coconut and higuera-gourd vejigante masks, hand-carved nativity scenes, ceramic mugs and bowls, and religious plaques and crosses.

One recurring, distinctly Puerto Rican item is its line of hand-painted, glow-in-the-dark coconut fish and turtles, a novelty craft form specific to the island's souvenir tradition. The shop ships internationally and maintains an online storefront alongside its physical location at 101 Calle Fortaleza, extending its reach to customers who can't visit Old San Juan directly. Over more than a quarter century in the same stretch of the old city, it has become one of a small cluster of artisan shops, alongside similarly long-running neighbors on Fortaleza, that collectively make the street a reliable stop for handmade Puerto Rican craft rather than mass-produced tourist goods.