Tin City, Naples, Florida

A great day at Tin City begins with a convenient place to park. This venue has a free, park-n-walk lot at the corner of 11th Street S and 6th Avenue S. There are several rows of good-sized spaces, and there were empty spots at various points in the day. The walk from the lot to the shops was barely five minutes over good sidewalks.

Tin City, with its old-fashioned, red-riveted logo, is easy to find, and is located on the waterfront at Naples Bay. This venue spans three buildings and has accessible entrances. If extra-close parking at the venue is desired, there are three small lots, plus one under shelter, located next to the Pure Florida Cruises and Tours window.

The stores are open 10 am till 9 pm Monday through Saturday, and from noon till 5 pm on Sunday. Riverwalk Restaurant is open 11 am to 9 pm Monday through Saturday, and 10:30 am till 9 pm on Sunday. Pinchers Restaurant is open 11 am through 10 pm Sunday through Thursday, and from 11 till 11 on Friday and Saturday.

Tin City Magic is just inside the entrance, one of a total of 34 places to visit here. Every type of magical accoutrement is available, and the shop owner is friendly and knowledgeable. There is a handy map to snap a photo of at the entrance, which shows “You are here” next to this store, which is stand no. 303.

Caribongo is located at suite 301 near the magic shop. There are two rooms full of dresses, t-shirts and sweatshirts in many sizes, socks, and all sorts of knick-knacks. Sweatshirts are available at $20, with extended sizes $2 more. An XXXL men’s poly-cotton blend t-shirt is $24.29; regular size women’s girly-girl t-shirts are $22.49. This shop offers ten percent discount on purchases over $100 before tax; tax is 7 percent.

Tropical Cargo is located in suite 206. This is a less-cluttered shopping experience than at Caribongo’s, still with a wide variety of Florida-themed goodies in a cute little shop. Prices are comparable. There are bracelets, keychains, decals, and muscle-shirts. One shirt reads: “Fat-bottom gulls, you make the flockin’ world go round.”

Naples’ own Tin City goes dates back more than 100 years at this very spot along the Gordon River. A railroad was built here, which turned this location into a clam and oyster seafood processing hub. Boat building and maintenance were also big here. In the 1970’s, the tin roofed-buildings gave way to a marketplace, then called Old Marine Marketplace, and is now Tin City.

Nostalgia is big here at Tin City. There are old-fashioned tin placard signs, with images that may or may not be all-ages appropriate. Tin City as a whole is stuffed to the rafters by antique items such as a sleigh with runners, a water pump, stained glass decorations, or a carving of an early 19th-century naval gunner.

Like many of the shops in Tin City and Naples as a whole, Roberts Design is seeking part-time help. This shop has all kinds of coconut heads done up in classic tiki style. Roberts has a great variety of shells and other Florida-themed knick-knacks. Even though this bench is taken, there are plenty of places to sit at Tin City.

There are three buildings at Tin City, and all are comfortable to shop in. Nearby Fifth Avenue South has higher-end restaurants and galleries plus fun night life. Naples has a lot of shirt shacks and fun shops; Tin City is the largest collection in one place. Alvin’s Island on Tamiami Trail by Carrabba’s Italian Grill on Tamiami Trail has shirts in the $10-$15-$20 range.

Riverwalk at Tin City is an open-air seating restaurant and the most up-market dining location at this venue. There are shrimp, scallops, oysters, a raw bar, and surf-and-turf. Riverwalk is open for lunch and dinner. The menu is the most varied and sophisticated at Tin City, and those diners with a view of Naples Bay may see dolphins.

Pinchers Crab Shack is an informal, mid-market restaurant with both indoor and outdoor dining. There are two entrances, one indoor and one outdoor. Though calling ahead is recommended, a 12:30 pm arrival resulted in only a five-minute wait at the outdoor entrance. All-day Happy Hour beers arrived at 12:45 and food arrived at 1 pm.

Pinchers has about a dozen locations along the Gulf Coast of Florida, including Key West. This Pinchers location is loud and fun. The decor could be called Rustic Florida, with the hand-painted signage speaking to beach life. This image was taken on Monday, March 13th, 2023, and Pinchers seemed fairly busy all day.

Pinchers has a raw bar with oysters, clams, and shrimp. There are chowders, salads, pastas, crab legs, nine side dishes, baby-back ribs, chicken, and desserts in addition to the sea food entrees and sandwiches. Although there is indoor seating, all seats (except for the bar) are open to sunlight and/or the elements.

This is a scallops platter with two side choices: French fries and Cole slaw. The scallops and the French fries were hot and tasty and the slaw was fresh. The server will put Kraft paper down on each table as a covering and write his or her name in Sharpie marker. The two-for-one happy hour beer was refreshing on a hot, humid day.

The deep-fried and breaded oyster platter at Pinchers also came with two side choices, shown here as wild rice and green beans. All food was hot, tasty, and fresh. The Blue Moon draft beer was delicious. There are several types of sauces on the table, some very hot to the taste. Each table has its own napkin dispenser and ketchup.

Pinchers is a fun dining experience, from draft beer through the dessert. The Miller Light draft beer is $7, Blue Moon is $8, a scallop platter is $29, the fried oyster platter is $24, and two slices of key lime pie are $8 each. The total for the food and drink was $84 and the tax was $5.88, for a total of $89.88, not including the tip.

The temperature had already reached 80 deg F (26.6C) when this photo was taken in the early afternoon of this mid-March day. It was already very sunny and humid. Pinchers is worth a visit, in whichever Gulf Coast location, as the food is tasty and the service is pretty good. Indoor dining is recommended for those not used to the Florida sunshine.

After a fun open-air lunch at Pinchers, there was still a lot more of Tin City left to explore. In the next building there is a coffee-and-candy shop, a winery shop, and a jewelry stand. There is also an ice cream stand that serves a wide variety of hot sandwiches, salads, side dishes, and the usual line-up of sodas.

Tin City has ample car parking plus a conveniently located bicycle rack. Tin City was closed for several weeks after Hurricane Ian made landfall on September 28, 2022. Pinchers was the first to reopen on October 26th. There was a serious late night car crash on November 25th, damaging the winery shop and others. Tin City as a whole reopened on December 15th, in just 76 days.

M&M’s Cafe offers free samples of ice cream, which are great to beat the Naples heat. Naples is a humid, subtropical city in Southwest Florida. Even in March, temperatures can reach 90 degrees F (32.22C) and the humidity often passes 60 percent, which is the upper limit of what is considered comfortable in a home.

M&M’s Cafe has been in business since 2008 with Naples native Matthew Moen as the owner. This food stand is not stingy at all with the free samples, and guests have 32 flavors to choose from. The life-size menu at right makes ordering very easy and there are paper menus available at the nearby tables.

The food-court style seating here is comfortable and well out of the Florida sunshine. Guests place orders at the register on the right and pick up their food and ice cream to the left at the pick-up counter near the soda station. Due to the variety, quality, and cost of the food and desserts here, M&M’s Cafe may be the best value eatery at Tin City.

This take-out order of two hot sandwiches was placed at 3:30 on Monday afternoon, March 13. The wait was fifteen minutes, and well worth it. This lamb-beef Greek gyro sandwich came with three cucumber slices and an ample amount of tzatziki sauce. The quarter-pound Angus cheddar burger was hot and juicy. With two sides of fries, the total was $28.68. M&M’s saw steady ice-cream and sandwich business all day long, as this place cares about the food.