Tzimblakis Store

Tzimblakis is a small traditional shop on Naxos that has been selling local and artisan island products since 1945. While it functions as a convenience stop for everyday essentials, its longer reputation is built on stocking goods that are genuinely from Naxos — the kind of place you visit once for a bottle of water and leave with a jar of thyme honey and a bag of kitron liqueur.

The shop trades under the name "Traditional and Local Products from Naxos" on its social presence, which signals its identity more accurately than the word "supermarket" might suggest. It sits at coordinates placing it in the area of Naxos Town (Chora), the island's main settlement, walkable from the port and the old Venetian kastro district.

What to Expect

The store is compact by design — a neighborhood-scale shop rather than a large supermarket chain. Expect shelves stocked with Naxian staples: local cheeses such as graviera and arseniko, thyme honey from the island's interior, fig preserves, and dried herbs. Naxos is one of the Cyclades' most agriculturally productive islands, so the range of genuinely local goods available in a shop like this tends to outpace what you'd find on smaller, less fertile islands. Kitron, the citron liqueur produced only on Naxos, is likely on the shelf alongside local olive oil and packaged pastries.

For travelers, this kind of shop serves two purposes: grabbing day-to-day supplies without traveling to a larger supermarket, and picking up edible or bottled souvenirs that are produced on the island rather than imported and relabeled.

How to Get There

The shop's coordinates place it within Naxos Town, the island's main hub. If you're staying near the waterfront or the old town, the shop is reachable on foot. From the port ferry terminal, head into town along the main commercial street and explore the streets running inland — local shops of this type tend to cluster in the older commercial lanes rather than on the main tourist strip.

If you're coming from elsewhere on the island, KTEL buses connect most villages to Naxos Town regularly. Parking in Chora can be tight in summer; arriving on foot or by scooter is easier than by car for a short shopping stop.

Best Time to Visit

A shop oriented toward local products is useful at any point in your stay, but visiting early in your trip means you can stock a rental kitchen or apartment with island goods from the start. Early morning is quieter; midday in summer, central Naxos Town fills with visitors and the streets around the port become congested. The shop operates year-round, though hours may shorten outside the main season (roughly June through September).

Tips for Visiting

• Bring cash as a backup — small traditional shops in the Cyclades don't always have reliable card terminals.
• Ask specifically about products made on Naxos rather than just in Greece; graviera PDO, kitron, and local honey are the island's signature edibles.
• The shop is small, so don't expect the full range of a supermarket — if you need specific fresh produce or a wide selection, supplement with one of the larger grocery stores further from the waterfront.
• Check the Instagram account (@tziblakis) before visiting if you want a sense of current stock or seasonal products.
• Local products here make practical take-home gifts: vacuum-sealed cheese travels well, and bottled kitron is widely unavailable outside Greece.

A Note on the Shop's History

Operating since 1945 puts Tzimblakis in a category that includes very few retail businesses on any Greek island. Most small shops of the postwar era have closed or changed hands and focus entirely; the fact that this one has maintained a recognizable identity built around traditional local products through eight decades of Naxos's transformation from agricultural backwater to popular Cycladic destination is worth noting. The family name Tziblakis appears consistently across references, suggesting it has remained in the same hands or within the same family across that period.