Items made abroad and bearing lower price tags will continue to be sold to visitors because locally made souvenirs are too expensive to produce, according to Hamilton shopkeepers.

Although Front Street stores offer some Bermuda-made gifts such as perfume, soap, cedar and other crafts, visitors will more readily spend up to $20 for a few T-shirts that have been made abroad, according to sales staff.

Becky Ricciardi, the buyer for Onion Jack's, said artists want too much money so she is forced to buy goods from abroad.

"We do encourage people to come in and sell goods but there is big business we are taking abroad,'' she said. "The bottom line is the cost to us so that we can sell their goods at a reasonable price.'' Andrea Bean, manager of Bees Knees, sympathised with local artists and said the high prices on the Island prevented them from being able to make a living.

"The price of doing anything on the Island kills the artists because by the time they import the raw materials they need and 22 percent (duty) is put on it, they can't make any money.

"We sell two locally made souvenirs -- some prints and some scarves.'' And the prints, which are $10 each, sell well while the scarves do not.

She added there were few locally made souvenirs because artists realised how expensive it would be to make the goods.

"Even at Harbour Nights the goods do not appear to be locally made,'' she said.

A.S. Cooper's local giftware buyer Donna Bodington noted a recent incident where a woman was attempting to sell the company her handmade jewellery.

But she said she could not have the woman's goods because she wanted too much for it.

She added: "We would love to support locals but we have bills to pay.'' Because there is so little made locally, some storekeepers suggested Bermuda needed a factory.

Ms Ricciardi noted: "Even the matting on the prints we sell is put on abroad.

No-one even does a clothing line. We started our own line of food products two years ago and it had to be produced abroad because no-one could have done it here.'' But while she supported the idea that Bermuda needed a factory, she added that the costs would still be too high.

"You would probably still get goods packaged cheaper in the States,'' she said.

Ms Bean agreed: "Imagine the companies having to pay duty on the machines and then having to pay duty on all the raw materials -- it would be horrendous,'' she said.

But Dameka Dublin, a salesperson at Carole Holding Studio, said visitors who shopped there would buy more expensive, locally-produced items that were practical.

For instance, hand-made lighthouse lamps sell well although they range in price from $22 to $45.

And visitors would buy more expensive items once they understood why the cost was so high, continued Ms Dublin.

She pointed to gombey and banana dolls made by Deidre Furtado. "People look at the elegance of the dolls and say `how 'bout that'. And, at first, they do not realise how small Bermuda is and think the items are very expensive.

"Once you explain to them that someone has taken the time to make these goods by hand, and put their time and sweat into making them, they appreciate it more and don't mind spending the money.'' She added it helped that Mrs. Furtado was in the store on Wednesdays making the items.

"Tourists see how much work goes into making the dolls and then understand why they cost so much,'' she said.

Price matters: Although Front Street stores offer some Bermuda-made gifts, visitors will more readily spend their dollars on cheaper goods made abroad.