Makai Gift Outlet

Just returned from Oahu. It’s a beautiful island and the people are so friendly, except at Makai Gift Outlet. I bought a few things there and left a very expensive beach towel by mistake. When I got back to my hotel I called immediately. Had to leave a message on their machine. An hour later I called back… same thing. I left detailed messages both times and my phone number. No one ever called. The next day I returned to the store and the employees were so rude and said they did not have the towel. I asked to speak to the owner and they got him on the phone (only after prepping him in Chinese) and I explained the situation. He told me that they don’t answer the phone because they get a lot of crank calls (gee, that tells you something) and they don’t listen to messages. So I suggest that, yeah, it was my fault for leaving the towel, but since I called, it was not unreasonable to have kept it at least 24 hours. He would not listen to even giving me a discount on buying a replacement towel from them. Overall a very dispiriting encounter during an otherwise very good trip. I assume they would be just as intractable if you were to try to return something you bought there. Very rude people. Very poor way to run a business.

I agree with FTR Margaret in that this is a very nice gift shop. It is situated in a strip of stores sandwiched in between Starbucks and the Aston Waikiki Hotel. It is somewhat easy to overlook but I noticed 6 postcards for a dollar so I went in.
There were lots of nice things that did not look that touristy. I was looking for a «plain t-​shirt» for my daughter’s fussy boyfriend & found a beautiful hair clip with sparkly flowers and diamonds I know my daughter will like. I say to visitors to stop in and visit Makai Gifts as you will might you be pleasantly surprised at their lovely selection of items. 1 Unilocal STAR DEDUCTED for somewhat pushy sales associates that tend to follow you around the store offering «suggestions» on what to buy.

Located on the far side of Kalakaua Ave, near Coldstone and the ABC store (across from the Zoo), this might look like any other gift shop (after the first 20, they do start looking the same, unless you go to a specialty store), but this store carries Iolani clothing which I’m always looking for, since so few stores carry the brand (Made in Hawaii label). Like most gift shops in Waikiki (it’s not an outlet, like the name states), carries aloha shirts, t-​shirts, keychains, and postcards. Also carries Pro Bowl merchandise, mostly t-​shirts, hats, and visors (was one of the few stores still carrying the latest PB stuff). My husband bought some stuff from this store last year. So this year (²⁄₁₂), we went here again, but didn’t have the size he was looking for (darn). I’m sure we will return again, just because we know that they carry Pro Bowl stuff. We told someone staying at our hotel about this place, because he was looking for PB hats.