St. Martin is the Caribbean's finest shopping destination, with its chic French influence and duty free status and "Shipwreck Shops" are St. Martin's premium shopping destination. Our stores have been providing locals and visitors to the island with high quality Caribbean-made gifts, souvenirs, books and resort wear for over 36 years in numerous key locations in both French St. Martin and Dutch St. Maarten.

The Shipwreck Shop idea was born in the late sixties, with the shipwreck of a small yacht in a heavy storm on the coast of the Caribbean Island of Antigua. Stranded on this quiet Caribbean island the couple had to find a way to finance their escape, so they started a 'shipwreck' shop and decorated the store with wreckage from the yacht. The concept proved so successful, that the couple expanded the stores throughout the islands and Shipwreck Shops came to the island of St.Maarten.

As the island of St. Maarten grew from a fledgling tourist destination with only a few hotels, to a major player in the Caribbean tourism trade, complete with fantastic duty free shopping, innumerous world class hotels and casino's; so Reinier and Lydia Heere grew the company into the major retailer on the island, that it remains today. Over the years the stores have became a landmark on the island, and are well known as "the" store for high quality island clothing, souvenir items, gifts and handicrafts.

Today, there is hardly a resort or major hotel on either the French or Dutch side of this two country island that does not have a Shipwreck Shop serving the guests. Cruise ship passengers seldom miss the unique stores in Philipsburg and Marigot, identified by the life size Gorilla greeting them at the door.

Lord & Hunter was created as the upscale "premier" store in the operation and was chosen as the name of the recently established U.S. base for the continued expansion of the Shipwreck Enterprise. The name is derived from the English translation of the Dutch Family names of Heere (Lord) and De Jager (Hunter).

We invite you to explore our website, www.ShipwreckShops.com; where, we can now bring you the delights of Caribbean cooking into your kitchen, with our Antilles Spice Clipper line of treats, delicacies and sauces. Order online and bring the exotic tastes of paradise into your home year round.

We hope that we can entice you to come and visit our tropical island paradise during your next vacation. Whether your visit is a day stop aboard a cruise ship or a week in an island villa, St. Maarten offers something for everyone. Come to our island paradise and visit one of our famous Shipwreck, Cabana, Boardwalk or Lord & Hunter stores conveniently located in shopping plazas and resorts.