My Favourite Places to Shop in Waikiki Honolulu

Welcome to the third and final instalment of things to see and do in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii.

If you missed the first two blog posts, everything you need to know about Waikiki Beach is covered in this post.  While my favourite places to eat and drink in Waikiki can be found right here.

Today we’re going to cover the very important topic of shopping.  Specifically my favourite places to shop in Waikiki Honolulu.  

Central Waikiki

Kalakaua Avenue

Kalakaua Ave is where you’ll find all the shopping and dining action during your stay at Waikiki Beach. It’s the main strip of Waikiki and features everything from high-end stores such as Louis Vuitton to home of designer clothes and homewares at bargain prices, Ross Dress For Less. 

Lampshades US$9.99 each at Ross Dress For Less

It’s very much an indoor/outdoor shopping situation, so make sure you wear plenty of sunscreen and comfortable shoes before strolling through the various stores and shopping centres you will find along Kalakaua Avenue.

My personal favourites were

• Royal Hawaiian Center A beautiful mix of completely unaffordable luxury (hello Harry Winston!) and the slightly more practical; Kate Spade, Forever 21 and The Cheesecake Factory.  Oh and the undercover walkways are a welcome retreat from the hot temperatures too.
• H&M – Corner Kalakaua & Seaside Ave.  Spread over two massive floors, I loved H&M for cheap, good quality basics (US$12.99 dresses, $7.99 tees)
• Ross Dress For Less, 333 Seaside Ave. We stumbled across Ross by accident and I’m pleased we did.  It’s not at all a glam place to shop – think rows and rows of clothes that you sort through in the hope of finding the perfect bargain and you’re on the right track. But don’t let that put you off! Both Scott and I picked up some great bargains there, including the Tommy Hilfiger striped dress I’m wearing in the photo at the top of this post (US$24, was $79)  Scott scored a pair of Nikes for US$38 while I grabbed a pair of the most gorgeous gold sparkly heels for US$17 The homewares section had me wishing I’d bought an extra suitcase with me (see photo above) while wondering how I could get a bed head home that was US$150 when similar retails here for around the $900 mark.
• Sand People, 2369 Kalakaua Ave. There are a few of these lovely Sand People homewares stores in Waikiki and this one is located near Moana Surfrider.  It’s full of gorgeous coastal & nautically themed items, including decor, art, books & accessories and is well worth a look.  And if funny t-shirts are your thing, you might like The Stupid Factory next door too.

Lewers Street

This is a really lovely part of Waikiki, running off Kalakaua Ave,  known as Waikiki Beach Walk.   It’s full of lots of lovely shops, restaurants and bars and looks absolutely beautiful at night.

It’s definitely worth a wander through.  Just don’t engage with anyone offering you a flower – they’re selling something, I don’t know what – probably a tour somewhere or possibly a timeshare apartment.  Who knows.  Either way, just own that footpath like a boss and say “No thanks!” whenever you’re asked, “Where are you from?” or “Would you like a flower?” or “Hi Miss! Can I ask you a question?” 

FYI: 

1. Most of the shops in Waikiki are open until 11pm, even later during the Summer months. 
2. I felt very safe wandering through this area on my own both during the day and at night.
3. Peak holiday times in Waikiki are June, July, August (USA Summer) and over Christmas/New Year.  It was busy when we were there but it didn’t feel crowded. 

Ala Moana Centre

About a 10 minute bus or taxi ride from central Waikiki you will find my spiritual home AKA Ala Moana Centre.

Ala Moana is the largest shopping centre in Hawaii, the seventh largest mall in the United States and the largest open air shopping centre in the world.  Yes, it is MASSIVE.

I went there three times during our 14 day stay in Waikiki and didn’t make it to all the stores.  I know.  I was disappointed by that effort too.  But to be fair, it was hot, I was carrying a ridiculous amount of shopping bags AND the centre had been completely renovated since my visit last year.

I was basically doing a orienterring course while carrying weights in a sauna. THREE TIMES IN A ROW.  The struggle was real people.  But this is how I coped.

1. An Acai Bowl from the Nordstrom Gelato Bar each visit was very refreshing (hold the honey and no thank you, I would not like any bee pollen added.  WTAF)
2. A wander through Neiman Marcus to day dream about shoes and handbags that I can’t afford actually resulted in being borderline accosted by not one but two perfume ladies. The first popped two Cartier perfume samples into my Old Navy shopping bag while the second was standing at the bottom of the escalator with an enormous bottle of some sort of citrus based fragrance that was sprayed around me so I could walk into it as I left the escalator.  Tres Fancy AND I left the store smelling like an orange blossom with lavender undertones, whatever that means.
3. Taking photos of funny things I saw helped relieve the shopping struggles.
4. As did getting myself an International Visitors Card from Macy’s.  To get yourself one, simply head to the Customer Service counter at any Macy’s store in the United States (not just Hawaii), present a photo ID and you’ll have yourself a 10% off card that is valid for 30 days.
5. The bar in the middle of Womenswear at Nordstrom’s (level 2) looked all sorts of amazing and I was very tempted to plonk myself in one of their chairs and order a mojito! But I had more shopping to do and not a lot of time to do it in, so I said no to the cocktail list and kept going.

My Ala Moana Shopping Tips:

• Get there early and on a weekday – that combination seems to be the quietest time for shopping.
• Catching the bus from Waikiki to Ala Moana is really easy.  You want to jump on bus 8, 19, 20, 23, 24 or 42  It will cost you $2.50 one way and you need the correct change.  We had a bus stop across the road from our hotel so I caught the bus to Ala Moana and then got a taxi home.  The taxi fare was anywhere from US$9 – $15 depending on the traffic.
• Don’t have lunch at the cafe at Neiman Marcus.  It’s overpriced and not that great.
• Do get yourself a Cinnabon from the dodgy little food court downstairs. It will clog your arteries and make you wonder where the Cinnabon has been all your life, all at the same time.
• Don’t buy anything from Kate Spade until you have been to the Outlet store (see below for more info)
• Comfortable shoes and sunscreen are a must!

My favourite stores at Ala Moana

• Macy’s (like Myer but with US brands)
• Brookstone (great for gadgets if you’re a bit of a tech nerd)
• Sephora (sign up for a Sephora card and you can score yourself some freebies)
• Cinnamon Girl (gorgeous and very reasonably homewares store on Level 3)
• Anthropologie (hello fabulous homewares.  It’s so lovely to see you in real life!)
• Old Navy (awesome clothing store for good quality clothes at bargain prices.)

Waikele Premium Outlets

The Waikele Premium Outlets are a good 30 minutes from Waikiki, so they’re a bit of a mission to get to.  

We hired a car, did a drive around the island and included the outlets in the drive. If you’re not comfortable driving you can catch a bus to the outlets or there is a hotel to outlet shuttle service available.

If you’ve been to outlets on the mainland of USA before, the Waikele Premium Outlets aren’t anywhere near as big but they do have some excellent stores offering some fabulous bargains.

On the day we were there Kate Spade had 60% off everything and then another 20% off that.  I picked up a few things, including the aqua crossover bag in the first photo on this post (was US$198, paid US$63) and the hot pink handbag (was US$328, paid US$104) featured in this #everydaystyle photo posted on Instagram over the weekend.

Sophie and I also scored a good deal at the Converse store, where they had a buy one pair get the second pair half price offer happening. So two pairs of Chuck Taylor All Star Low Top Classics came in at US$72

Scott picked up a couple of pair of Levi jeans for $27 a pair while Bailey declared himself to be a non-shopper, which made me wonder what WILL he do for cardio? But that crisis has been averted because Pokemon Go is now a thing, so he’s going for regular very short walks to the end of the street and back, so we’re all good!

And that wraps up our trip to Waikiki.  Thanks so much for joining me. It’s been so much fun sharing it all with you.  

If you’ve got any Waikiki/holiday/shopping related questions hit me with them in the comments and I’ll answer them for you.

Where are your favourite places to shop in Waikiki? Or maybe you’re going there soon…on a scale of 1 – I’ll have a Mojito thanks! how excited are you?!