Whenever my family ventures to my homeland we try to keep away from tourist traps. We stick to the smaller or local side of town and only go shopping for trinkets 1 day in our whole vacation. The crowd jostles you and eats up all your energy and you barter with the vendors. By the end of the day, when you plop down on the couch and fall asleep listening to the lapping of the water, you know that it will make quite the interesting story to tell people when you get home. You may not have gotten everything you wanted but you came away with more than trinkets.
I remember calling my best friend after a long day of shopping in St. Lucia and telling her about this man who had dredlocks past his waist and would play the steel drums outside of the shopping center. He would try tosell you his CDs but listening to him play was absolutely breathtaking. It made us want to throw down our bags and dance our tired feet off! 
Alaska on the other hand doesn't have very many good shopping stories... maybe some weird guy was yelled at the clerk because they didn't carry the shoes he wanted in the right size. But that's not really interesting. As much as i love Alaska and the people in it, i would have to say that St. Lucia wins out when it comes to memerable people interaction stories.
