The World of Aahs

In Kaneohe, tucked away in a corner of Windward Mall, first floor, near Macy’s is a place that is truly an experience for the eyes and mind called appropriately «The World of Aahs». It’s a delightful store to check out for not ony party supplies but very interesting food novelties. For starters they have a couple hundred different sodas to try (if you like rootbeer, be prepared to try at least 10 different varieties), all neatly stacked on the shelf. For saltwater taffy lovers, there’s a whole wall of taffy to choose from. My favorite are the candy novelties such as nacho flavored crickets, bacon flavored breath mints, violet crumble (a populer aussie candy), and what looks like the world’s largest Rice Krispy treat. They also have a good assortment of novelty mugs, metal signs (those are my favorites), T-​shirts, balloons and assorted knick-​knacks. They have full size replicas of heroes like Wolverine for sale in their front window, just waiting for the right person to take them home. The store is well maintained but I would be nervous about letting little kids run around the soda display because they could accidentally trigger mass breakage for a whole shefl. Perhaps the soda could be put in bins to keep this from happening. Also during holiday seasons they have limited supplies of seasonal items. It’s not like the old Price Busters seasonal shop where the whole store was nothing but Christmas or Halloween stuff. Finally on the candy novelties, I would expect different items to appear regularly but it seems they are content to sell only dried meal worms and crickets even though you can get scorpions and other insects that are edible. So not much of a variety. But other than that, it’s an interesting place to browse.

Bizarre and random mish-​mash of a shop that’s supposed to make you «ooh» and «aah» as its name suggests. Located on the first level of Windward Mall next to Macy’s. Half party supply store, half candy shop.
Interesting selection of snacks and candies some of which are a retro blast from the past. Novelty items galore. Take a look around & you’d agree.
Heavy emphasis is placed on their huge selection of bottled soda pop. They probably have a hundred to choose from. All grouped by type: colas, root beers, fruity type (Astro Pop flavored soda anyone?), chocolate soda, coffee pop, etc.
The selection is so mind boggling that it’s difficult to choose. The store should create a Top 10 best seller list, (sort of like how Trader Joe’s does), for the wishy-​washy, indecisive people like me. That would certainly drive up sales & can only be a win-​win situation for everyone all around.
My soda pop pick: Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory’s chocolate flavored soda $ 3.99…(just a quick note, most of the soda pop here is $ 2.99). Anywho… this drink reminded me of the time the Zebra Fruity Stripe gum makers came out with a chocolate flavored gum one year. This was in elementary school so maybe my memory is fuzzy but that’s what it tasted like… chocolate flavored gum. Weird. Yes. Bizarre. Yes.
Aah…Hope you stick around World of Aahs because every time I shop here it is strangely absent of customers.

If I could post a grade of zero stars for today’s incident I would.
We walked in with my 7 year old son today.
He was looking for his one treat allowed for our windward mall Sunday visit.
Before he decided on a package of sour patch kids he bent down to help the stocking clerk pick up several candies she had dropped onto the floor as she was moving from shelf to shelf.
You probably are wondering why the poor marks for the store by now…
Well I asked him to stay close because as he was doing that I noticed how precariously they had merchandised the myriad of single bottles of soda on several shelves low to the ground around the candy area that any child could easily bang into while reaching for their treat.
Well lo (like the rating) and behold, we turn to see my adult niece carrying her bag and approaching us when her satchel accidentally glances one of the sodas (reiterate «precariously“placed on shelves without a lip or fall barrier) and it falls about 6inches to the floor and subsequently squirts out fizzy soda from its still capped bottle top.
She takes the squirted partially emptied soda to the counter to let them know about the need to clean up. Apologetically.
Here’s where the visit took a low star turn:
And they (the manager and cashier) immediately begin to ask for payment because it’s Store Policy to pay for any breakage.
I stepped into the conversation and explained that asking a customer to do so was not right when it was purely a problem with their merchandising choices and not a problem with customer fault or responsibility.
I was more upset by the fact the manager wanted to banter back and forth using these remarks
„If someone came into your house and ruined your most prized vase wouldn’t you want them to pay for it“
I replied „well no if it was my home then I probably knew that person so no I wouldn’t, and more importantly, I would not put my prized vase on a shelf close to the ground that normal adult movement could inevitably break it“
Then she went on to argue that if I broke something from the shop next door (an expensive artisan shop) wouldn’t I pay for that. Of course I went back to „well if that artisan decided to put his expensive work on that kind of shelf I would have to decline as well.!“ And more over I was appalled that she was placing a measly bottle of soda in the same category as a JeffChang work of art!!!
She also (because she needed to „recover the loss“) explained that „this has never happened before because we have placed the bottles 2 inches from the edge to prevent spillage“ of course I am ramped up and then say.“you could not guarantee me if another child or adult moved that soda closer than your so called 2 inch from edge policy before my adult niece came by to accidentally push the bottle over this shelf!»
The scene was ridiculous!
It wasn’t until I said «pay the loss amount! And I will Unilocal how this store treats their customers!» And we were walking out Wen she changed her tune and wanted to «work with me»
They took our money.
They will never get our money again.
It’s not about how much money we paid.
It’s about company policies that are taken out of context and in the end places honest customers into positions of disadvantage and ultimately unhappy and sour tastes in our mouth.
Obtw. We did not buy the sour patches!

This store gets two stars for creating a clean and well-​organized retail space.
However, I was not inclined to buy anything, because I recognized a lot of the merchandise as items I could buy pretty much anywhere on this island… for substantially less!
For example:
One individual Lotte chocopie that Costco sells for 48/​$ 7 was at World of Aahs 1/​$ 0.99
A very commonplace Annabelle Rocky Road Bar that is found pretty much everywhere (usually for less than $ 1) was $ 1.99
A large sized Lindt chocolate bar which is always less than $ 4 at Target or Wal-​mart was marked $ 7.99 (original price) and advertised as a bargain «sale» item at $ 4
There was a large display of beverages (many of the brands again are the same as those sold in 7-​Eleven, Long’s Drugs, Don Quijote, Marukai, etc)
There were party supplies, t-​shirts, and gift items. The inventory was interesting and well-​arranged, but not competitively priced.
As one would expect, the store was practically empty and I did not see any customers in line at the registers.
I am VERY CHEAP but even I have been compelled to spend money on products or services that were not available anywhere else or whose quality I felt justified a higher price.
But honestly, there was nothing offered at World of Aahs that I couldn’t buy somewhere else for a MUCH lower price.

One stop shop for amazing candy and glass bottle sodas. Awesome staff and great selection of balloons.

Aah so! Now I get it!
After passing by and wondering what this store is all about, I went in again to take a closer look…
In the place of the former Price Busters — on the ground floor of Windward Mall, next to Macy’s is The World of Aahs (not Oz). There is no Yellow Brick Road, but there is peppy music; wide, clean aisles; and bright lighting!
This store has everything you need for a fun party: decorations, costumes, balloons, greeting cards, paper goods, candy, favors, gift bags, etc. The seasonal items are discounted — for example, the Christmas items are 75 percent off. They even have Hello Kitty items! Too bad these things aren’t discounted, so minus one star! haha!
So, if you need that finishing touch for your celebration, or a last minute Novelty/​gag gift item, come here because it’s convenient and well-​stocked!