The reason most foreign visitors stop in Dolores Hidalgo is to buy ceramics. The streets immediately around the Jardín, and particularly Avenida Hidalgo running west out of the square, are lined with workshops and showrooms selling Talavera-style tiles, plates, jars, bowls, sinks, and the brightly painted figurines that turn up in restaurants across the country.
Prices are a fraction of what the same pieces fetch in San Miguel de Allende or Mexico City, and most workshops will arrange shipping if you buy more than a suitcase can hold. The bigger producers — there are several factories on the highway out of town — let visitors watch the throwing, glazing, and firing. Quality varies, so handle pieces, ask about lead-free glazes if you intend to eat off them, and bargain politely on larger orders.
The ice cream stands around the Jardín are not shopping in any normal sense, but they are part of what people buy here too — the corn, mole, and tequila flavours travel home only in memory.