Hilo Hattie

An update as of January 20, 2016. The Dole Whip machine is still broken, so for those of you thinking you scored a good coupon for Dole Whip, think again. The woman we asked about it had no idea when it would be fixed or replaced. If you plan to make the trek out for this reason, call ahead.
More importantly, the AC is still broken, which by the looks of reviews here, has been this way since early December. It’s miserably stuffy in there. The jewelry area has a few portable AC units, probably since this is the high-​margin portion of the store?
On most of my past Kauai trips, a trip to Hilo Hattie usually would result in a few souvenirs to take home. Sure, it was touristy, but that’s kinda what we were looking for. This time in, it was painful walking around the store. About 70% clothing, 10% jewelry counter and 20% limited selection of uninspired trinkets.
HH is currently going through a bankruptcy, hopefully this store survives and finds a way back to what it used to be.

I wanted to leave Kauai with cool souvenirs and shirts to bring home and I was able to but NOT HERE. I feel so bad for this establishment. It’s extremely run down with terrible clothes and trinkets to buy. The only clothes I see here resemble costumes labeled Hawaiian Tourist Clothes for movies. Please do not waste your time and gas to come here, like I did, because you will be very disappointed.

Probably the most miserable Hilo Hattie I’ve ever seen. The store seems to be disintegrating and if you read back on some Unilocal posts, things have been broken for quite some time now.
Aside from the woman who «lei-​d» me, everyone in the store was really unfriendly. I came here to get use my free Dole Whip coupon I found in the magazine. When I got here, I was told that the machine was broken. Or actually, I was told it was broken and then told to go «read the sign». 1. Whaaaaaat! 2. RUDE! Anyways, looking back at the Unilocal posts, apparently its been broken for a few weeks now and they still haven’t fixed it? How lameee.
After walking around the store, I decided to use the bathroom. One of their toilets was out of order and their paper towel dispenser wasn’t working. They’ve got enormous fans spread out around the store because the AC is still broken. There are gross black stains all over their carpets. And their creepy fluorescent are flickering. Usually this wouldn’t be a big deal, but they’re selling super cheapo touristy products at crazy prices so you’d think they’d at least try! AND if you’re going to lure me into going all the way to your store for a free dole whip then your machine better damn well be ready to go!
Go shop at a local mom and pop store rather than this tourist trap!

Ugh! Avoid stepping into this tourist trap! Nothing was a ‘deal’ and we headed to costco and purchase like clothing products for a fraction of their ‘deeply discounted’ items.

Disappointed in Hilo Hattie’s. Air conditioner was not working so they had these huge fans blowing ~ not so hot for the hair if you’re headed to dinner We had a coupon for a free «dole whip». Guess what? The machine wasn’t working!
It seems Hilo Hatties (at least this one) has scaled down to mostly clothes. We walked around looking at the jewelry and not one time were we offered to open an oyster! Say what!!! Marking this one off the list of places to return to or recommend.

We always enjoy shopping at Hattie’s when we go to Hawaii. They have had many problems lately and have closed some stores. This one is still open and seemed to being doing some business the day we were there. Of course it helps when the tour buses stop there. I’ve shopped in a lot of touristy shops for Hawaiian shirts and have not found any that have the variety, quality and price that you find in Hattie’s. It’s such an icon, I hope they stay in business.

Hilo Hattie’s is an island icon. Unfortunately the store’s selection of merchandise has gone way downhill — and the lack of crowd shows it. (The parking lot used to be full on a regular basis; now there is a food truck sitting in one corner — and he had more business at 3:00 PM on a Wednesday afternoon that the store did.)
The store used to be loaded with a full selection of clothing in all sizes (up to 4 and 5X in many cases), a decent selection of Hawaiian music CDs and scenic DVDs, jewelry (beware of the oyster bar), and souvenirs (both edible and non-​edible). Now, one could play a decent game of pickup football in the store without running into a clothing rack or display case, with the lack of items on display.
Save yourself the disappointment and go next door to Walmart or over to K-​mart at Kukui Grove for island products.

I liked it but I knew the oyster pick was a bit too good to be true after the first oyster turned up two pearls, which then led to mounting them on one or two items. $$$ On top of that we got to pick FOR FREE (nothing in this world is free accept the gift Jesus gave us when He died for us) another oyster. This led the sales Representative to try and get us to spend more, which I didn’t circum to. The clincher was the 2^nd oyster also had two pearls. I bet they all did.

this business is dishonest! when shopping with my six year old for a setting for her pearl, the sales person tried to sell me an overpriced sterling silver setting by telling me that it was white gold. she told me 3 times that the pendant we wanted only came in white gold, however, the tag was clearly marked ss (sterling silver). when i confronted her about it, she confirmed that it was indeed sterling silver and that she must have been «mistaken.» the manager also claimed it was a mistake and said that it is not their usual business practice to lie. needless to say i left without a pendant and i will not be returning to this store since they clearly are not knowledgeable about their own products and more likely are lying to every customer that walks in the door.

Tourist trap. They start the scam the minute you walk in. My daughter was genuinely creeped out. We didn’t even bother to ask for the free t shirt offered with our car rental. Just ran…

Nice store to buy upscale Hawaiian shirts, dresses, jewelry etc. you can find good deals here. Authentic looking items.

Overpriced place for souvenirs. Might as well go to the street market were you can buy the same quality stuff for the fraction of the price.

I know it’s not amazingly authentic and über touristy, but screw it. I had a lot of fun picking out an oyster and getting the two pearls inside. Yeah yeah, I know. But still. It really was fun, and with the (obligatory) 40% off coupon, it’s a little under $ 10. Now my wife has two pearls that she can do whatever the heck she wants with. I just wanted to play with bivalves.

Hawaii’s tourist spot!
I’m not sure why my friends and I sauntered into this shop. Heavens, I’ve been to one of these on almost every island I’ve visited and they are all the same. Perhaps it’s the the clothes, or the nick-​nacks or because it’s the once place some one will grace me with lei.
Naturally, I picked up a few gift items to bring home. Hopefully that will count me as a hero to some in my household… or provide a margin of grace for those unhappy they weren’t shopping the place with me.
Still, I can’t be too harsh on Hilo Hattie. You want gift? They’ve got gifts!

Blehhhhhh this place hurt my head! I’m not sure if it was the awful fluorescent lighting that hummed dully overhead or the sheer size of the store that looked like someone threw up tacky tourist gifts all over the place. Mostly everything was way overpriced, and the things that weren’t were incredibly cheaply made. When I visited Maui several years ago, I shopped at Hilo Hattie and had a completely different experience. At this location, the associates were all congregated at the front of the store chatting, not making themselves easily accessible if you had a question. Shop local instead! You can find much more unique gifts at reasonable prices in any of the towns on Kaua’i than you’ll find here.

I have been to Hawaii a half dozen times and had never visited Hilo Hattie. I was looking for something to bring home to my infant nephew and found a great outfit for him. The selection is huge. Lots of tacky souvenirs. Overall it was worth my trip and I will visit again in the future.

For those of you looking for trinkets and other Hawaiian souvenirs, Hilo Hattie’s is your one stop shop for absolutely everything: Hawaiian shirts and dresses, Hawaiian music, oyster shucking, quilted bags and oven mitts, wooden statues and bowls but alas, no Stefon.
As soon as you walk in the doors, you are greeted and gifted a shell lei. And yes, I have restored great honor on my family by avoiding the obvious joke. Giggity. A majority of the shop is clothing and accessories and there is a large section for touristy knick knacks and a small jewelry section. Will you use a majority of the things you get here? Probably not but if this is your first visit– go wild. I usually stop in to grab a couple souvenirs as they have coupons in nearly every coupon book for some «freebie» but then you have to measure whether the chocolates, mug, or cooler is worth the $ 15-​$ 25 required for the coupon and it usually isn’t– do you really need a cheap mug that says Kauai on it for $ 20?
As is the case with most souvenirs on the Island, they are supplied in most stores and you can find most if not all of the items in Hilo Hatties at other stores for a cheaper price (Walmart, Spouting Horn, ABC, or Kapaa Market).
I’ll echo someone else’s warning on the oyster shucking– it is a fleeting experience (picking out the oyster and waiting in anticipation to see what is inside) but in the end, you are left with an oyster that you can either put in a ridiculously overpriced setting or have placed in plastic bag that will sit in a drawer somewhere.

Tourist trap. You’ve been warned.
2-​stars for the free shell lei and juice.

If you’re looking for one-​stop souvenir shopping, this is probably the place for you. It’s not far from the airport at all, so if you’ve just arrived or are about to leave Kauai, this is a good place to get your touristy shopping done.
They have a great variety of clothing, but also many other kinds of souvenirs. The drawback is that you will likely pay slightly higher prices than you would at other stores. So shopping here more or less comes down to convenience. For example, some of the items sold here (some identical, some only similar) were a couple dollars less at the Walmart next door, so keep that in mind if you find something that costs more than you’d ideally want to pay for it.
Lihue and some of the tourist sites around the island have plenty of items similar to those you’ll find at Hilo Hattie’s, so come here only if you prefer the convenience of its location and don’t mind paying a little more.

This place is pretty much a given when it comes to getting souvenirs and other goodies.
I always end up with chocolates and coffee here… this trip was no different.
The people who work here are very friendly and help in anyway they can.