A short list by any measure. Two agencies and one freelancer, all in Panama City, make up the local list. A three-name shortlist has one advantage: you can speak to everyone before deciding. It carries one risk too. If the freelancer is booked, your only local choices are agencies.
All three build and set up stores. Every Panama-based profile lists Shopify Development and Store Setup & Management. Beyond that, Technical Support & Maintenance, Design, UX & Branding and Consulting & Strategy each appear on just one profile. A new build is well covered locally; anything more specialised depends on one person's calendar.
Spanish and English on every profile. All three list both languages. Brief in whichever one your team uses day to day, and ask for handover notes in the same language so whoever maintains the store later can read them.
Small numbers, real consequences. With three local experts, one holiday or one big client can empty the shortlist for weeks. If your launch date is fixed, contact all three in the same week and keep a regional option warm, such as an expert from the Colombia or Mexico pages linked below.
Reading the listing. Panama City's three come first. Scroll past them for remote experts who take Latin American clients; that's the place to find marketing help or a second freelancer quote.