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Eastern and Western traditions meet on Oahu, where savvy shoppers find luxury goods at high-end malls and scout tiny boutiques and galleries filled with pottery, blown glass, woodwork, and Hawaiian-print clothing by local artists. This blend of cultures is pervasive in the wide selection of spas as well. Hawaiian lomilomi and hot-stone massages are as omnipresent as the orchid and plumeria flowers decorating every treatment room.
Exploring downtown Honolulu, Kailua on the windward side, and the North Shore often yields the most original merchandise. Some of the small stores carry imported clothes and gifts from around the world—a reminder that, on this island halfway between Asia and the United States, shopping is a multicultural experience.
If you're getting a massage at a spa, there's a spiritual element to the lomilomi that calms the soul while the muscles release tension. During a hot-stone massage, smooth rocks, taken from the earth with permission from Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, are heated and placed at focal points on the body. Others are covered in oil and rubbed over tired limbs, feeling like powerful fingers. For an alternative, refresh skin with mango scrubs so fragrant they seem edible. Savor the unusual sensation of bamboo tapped against the arches of the feet. Indulge in a scalp massage that makes the entire body tingle. Day spas provide additional options to the self-indulgent services offered in almost every major hotel on the island.
Shop for gifts or yourself at this cozy, independent bookstore, which feels more like a small-town library, welcoming browsers to linger. It sells new and secondhand books, and its children's section is filled with both books and toys.
This family-owned and -operated gallery offers the artist's functional and decorative pottery as well as the works of approximately 200 other American artisans. Jeff has worked with clay for more than 40 years and his wife, Karon, operates the gallery and selects other works, including jewelry, glass pieces, metal sculpture, wall art, wooden items, musical instruments, chimes, suncatchers, sand globes and pictures, holiday decor, and ornaments.
Take home the fragrances of the Islands with this shop's organic body lotions, hand creams, soaps, sprays, bath salts, and scrubs. Botanical extracts, such as papaya, mango, sea kelp, and calendula, are combined with essential oils, including from macadamia and kukui nuts, to produce the shop's refined line of products.
For modern and authentic aloha attire made in Hawaii, Manuhealii is your place. The Kailua storefront is one of two physical locations (the other is in Honolulu). The clothes aren't inexpensive, but their quality is superb.
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