Pearl Factory

Real pearls FAKE people. I walked my 4 times in one day and heard the same Asian man tell the customer that they got the rarest pearl! Sad part was that they all had different colors: Pink, silver, black and blue. Raising the hopes of people with lies and also very obnoxiously yelling «Aloha» turned me off. We went to a similar place by the tapa pool for my moms gift where the lady was nice, more genuine and more honest and FAR less annoying and pushy.

Date of visit: 8÷5÷2015
This is an offshoot store of Na Hoku, which acts as a tourist trap. I’ve already seen this scheme in San Diego, but for some reason, my mom and I couldn’t resist while visiting Hawaii.
The shopkeepers first lure you in by calling out to you as you approach the store. Once you look at them, you’re doomed. They tempt you with the «Hawaiian Slot Machine» which happens to give a consistent pearl every time you make an attempt. My mom and I each got a pearl because at $ 15.99 per pearl, how bad can it be if you add on a $ 40 setting?
Well, once you open your pearl, you’re inundated with beautiful gold settings that are definitely not $ 40, but $ 300+. Everything in the display cases are $ 300, and if you even ask for something cheaper, the salesperson will go into their «gold is forever» spiel, and man, they are good at it based off all the highest sales plaques that they have in the store.
My mom and I ended up getting the $ 350 turtle pendant, which after purchasing resulted in deep buyer’s remorse. I’m not one to buy expensive jewelry, but I felt really pressured to buy it. Although it is a beautiful piece of jewelry, I don’t feel like «I’m on vacation» is a good reason to spend money on jewelry.
The worst part is that the salesperson didn’t even clean my pearl before setting it in my pendant. Since my mom and I qualified for two free pearls, my mom had them set in a simple gold earring setting, which he proceeded to secure with scotch tape. Now, I understand the tape was needed to secure the pears while the epoxy dried, but won’t that result in a sticky residue? My parents ended up taking all of our jewelry the next day and requested a cleaning. My pendant looks really nice, but shouldn’t the cleaning have taken place right when we bought it?
Overall, I’m not a big fan of their sales methods and wouldn’t recommend them, despite the high quality that you’re paying for.

Today was my first experience at a Pearl Factory and it was great. I stopped by to see about resizing a ring I’d received as a gift that was purchased there at the HHV location. The 3 staff members working were extremely helpful! I’m terrible with names, but there was Carlos and 2 ladies with short hair (a blonde and a brunette). They reset my pearl on a ring that was a much better fit in a matter of minutes and were extremely friendly to chat with while I waited.
The experience was so good that I decided to come and get a gift for my mom who is coming out for a visit this week. After looking at what they had I decided to do the pick your own pearl thing and got a setting as well. Yes the settings can be expensive depending on what you want, but these are sales people — its their JOB to get the best sale possible and of course they are going to start by offering the more expensive items. I didn’t feel pressured and its pretty obvious why they give you the free pearl… its a great way to sell another setting. If you don’t wan’t something just be assertive and tell them so. They definitely play up the tourist part with the gong and such, but they are in the middle of the village and I wouldn’t expect anything less.
I see a few reviews that comment about the prices. I learned tonight that Pearl Factory is actually part of Na Hoku jewelry store. The name «Pearl Factory» to me has a bit of a cheap surplus tourist store feel to it to me so when they told me they were part of Na Hoku I was extremely surprised (and very pleasantly so — I LOVE Na Hoku, locally family owned and never a bad experience there). The pieces they offer are what you find in a nice jewelry store and in line with the pieces I own from Na Hoku in both quality and price. I think its important to remember that the if you are just doing the pick your pearl thing its a fun deal for a reasonable $ 15, but if you do want a setting remember that despite its kiosk appearance and name it is a essentially a quality jewelry store and you will pay those prices.
All in all I was very happy with my experience and wound up with 2 great pearls in a setting I was happy with.

Get the free pearl and RUN!!! Lol if you’re here you need to realize they are hustlers and very good at their job. It’s a fun experience if you know that going in! I was already planning on getting jewelry so I didn’t mind paying for the white gold
Pendant but they will keep trying to get you to buy more and more — check out the «highest sales awards» on their walls — they are good at their job! lol keep your eyes wide open and just expect to say no often and stand your ground!

I got a nice Pearl and piece of jewelry, but the experience was horrible.
We got ignored and were mistreated by the most horrible salesperson I’ve ever met. We wanted to buy my mom a gift, but we will be going to maui divers instead. We are still in shock about the rudeness of this woman.
As soon as she found out that we dis not want to buy the most expensive setting, she got ruder and ruder. My pearl was big and Beautiful, otherwise we would have left and let them stick that pearl somewere else. Steer clear of Yuni! The other girls sounded nicer to their customers.

The gimmick is that you get the pearl for $ 15.99, BUT what they don’t tell you is that you have to buy their overpriced settings (the jewelry piece that attaches to the pearl), which is at least $ 50. They open the oyster in front of you, and you don’t know what kind of pearl you’re going to get. I saw someone with a black pearl that retails for $ 500, but I was a less lucky and got a pink pearl that retailed for $ 50.
When selling their settings, they will aim high first. They tried to sell me $ 200+ setting with a diamond, which came from their «1» labeled box. I said no. Then they tried to sell me their «1b» box settings, which was only slightly cheaper. I finally purchased their «1c» box setting. It’s called lava flow setting. It’s simpler than the diamond decorated one, but love it! But I don’t know if it was worth the price tag, though. Paid $ 80+ in total.
In the end, they offered me a free pearl, but that’s also another tourist trap to get you to buy another expensive setting. «Free»? What a lie! No thanks.
They have good customer service, but they’re quite pushy on trying to sell you their more expensive settings. It was fun opening the oyster and all, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Too overpriced in my opinion.
TIP: Apparently the secret is that the uglier the oyster, the more expensive the pearl inside.

Beware the «free» pearl! It can be really expensive!
The funny part is, when you buy a setting for the free pearl, you get another free pearl!!! Thank goodness I was there to stop my wife, or she would have gotten every «free» pearl they had!
The setting we got was really nice and done quickly, but this is the most «tourist» place I have seen in a long time.

Quite the experience for my daughter not for my wallet but overall good. selected our oysters. got our pearls and made them our jewelry! Great mom and daughter experience. Great customer service!