Maui Shopping

Where to Shop in Maui

Where’s the best place to pick up those souvenirs you’ve just GOT to take home?

For the most fun shopping: lots of small stores on Front Street in Lahaina.

For the most choices in one place (and good prices): Hilo Hattie (Lahaina & Kihei).

For the lowest prices: Wal-Mart in Kahului.

For Hawaiian music CD’s, there are some at Hilo Hattie and a much larger selection at Border’s Bookstore in Kahului or Barnes and Noble bookstore in Lahaina. But the best prices are at Wal-Mart in Kahului.

See below for more details on all of the best shopping areas on Maui for gifts and clothes, as well as souvenirs.

Six main shopping areas and one store I suggest, plus the usual:

Front Street in Lahaina
Little tourist shops for T shirts and souvenirs and art

Whalers Village on Kaanapali Beach 661-4567
Nicer tourist shops and restaurants.
Good souvenir shirt choices at Crazy Shirt.
www.whalersvillage.com for the monthly activity calendar of free shows

The Shops at Wailea 879-1991
Upscale shops and restaurants in a beautiful modern open-air mall www.shopsatwailea.com

The Lahaina Cannery Mall on the main road outside the north edge of Lahaina
Modern enclosed mall
Regular stores, tourist shops, restaurants, Long’s Drugstore, and Safeway 24-hour supermarket
www.lahainacannerymall.com for lists of stores and schedule of free entertainment

Lahaina Center and Old Lahaina Center are both at the north end of the Front Street (Lahaina) shopping district
oldlahainacenter.com for lists of stores and calendar of free entertainment

Queen Kaahumanu Center in Kahului 877-4325
Sears and Macy’s and about 90 other stores, plus food court
Biggest shopping center on Maui
Where Maui residents (not just tourists) shop
www.queenkaahumanucenter.com for store directory and entertainment schedule

Hilo Hattie in Lahaina (667-7911) and Kihei (875-4545)
There is one store on Maui that deserves its own special mention. Hilo Hattie may be tacky, but it’s got good prices on all the clothes and souvenirs that you want to bring home from Maui. An amazing 25% of all the visitors to Hawaii stop in at one of the Hilo Hattie stores on one of the islands some time during their visit. After you get your free shell lei on arrival, you will be astounded at the huge selection of aloha shirts, dresses, costume jewelry, trinkets, candies, nuts, souvenirs and other Hawaiian-themed STUFF. In case you don’t buy enough when you are there, many of the items available in the stores are also available on their web site at www.hilohattie.com
Was there really such a person as Hilo Hattie? Well, sort of. Clarissa Haili (1901-1979) was a comic singer, one of whose songs in the 1940’s was called “When Hilo Hattie Does the Hula Hop.” She also appeared as Waihila, a flower seller, in a 3-minute scene near the beginning of the 1961 movie “Blue Hawaii” with Elvis Presley. A clothing factory on the Big Island, named after the character Hilo Hattie, was bought in the 1960’s by Jim Romig, a businessman from Washington state. He turned it into the company that exists today with large stores in several states besides Hawaii.

The usual
Yes, they do have all of these on Maui: Costco, WalMart, KMart, Lowes, Home Depot. You'll find them all in the main city of Kahului.