Best Businesses Goods and Services on Maui
Best Place to Get Married
Grand Wailea chapel
Just one vote ahead of Makena, the chapel at The Grand Wailea got the award for best place to tie the knot this year. The setting and the views are hard to beat and seldom is heard a discouraging “I Don’t!”
Best Recording Studio
Tom Hall’s Melody Line Studio
Why talk recording studios? Editor’s bias? Yup guess so. The nominees for this mini category are: Bob Rock’s, Seaside Recording, Walter Becker’s (good luck getting studio time now), RGS, Blue Papaya and this year’s winner, Melody Line Studios. Consistently busy, always musical and run by a seriously ‘nice’ engineer were qualities that put Melody Line at the top of this year’s heap.
Best Bike Shop
West Maui Cycles
A three way battle between South Maui Bicycles, Extreme Sports Maui and West Maui Cycles left the west side’s cycle shop on top. Voters remained faithful to their favorites regardless of location, with some Lahaina riders favoring Ha`iku’s Haleakala Bike Company while some Kula riders preferred the winner. Congrats to all.
Best Leis
Ali`i Leis
I had no idea there were so many options, but everything from “homemade” to “tutu’s” to “the flower girls” came pouring in. However, it was Kahului’s Ali`i Leis that gets the Best Leis award. Ali`i nosed out A Special Touch, O`oka’s and Safeway in their run for the roses. Other popular choices include Nona Lani, Pua’s Kalama Village, Kahului Florist and “any roadside stand in Hana”.
Best Music Store
Bounty Music
Maui’s biggest music store ran away with this one, with just a handful of competitors. Bounty’s Best Music Store win comes on the eve of their 21st birthday; a long time to be in business on Maui. Runners ups include Mele Ukulele, Lahaina Music and Tropical Disc for their line of guitars. The random “amazon.com” and “mail order” vote failed to gather much steam.
Best Ocean Rental Shop
Maui Dive Shop
A head-to-head brawl between Snorkel Bob’s and Maui Dive Shop left Bob in the runner-up category. Formidable contestants include South Pacific Kayaks, Boss Frog’s, Extreme Sports Maui and Pacific Dive Shop.
Best Place to Buy A Car
Valley Isle Motors
Running neck-and-neck to the finish, Valley Isle Ford and Cutter Family Auto Centers exchanged the lead several times. Sharing the remaining votes were South Maui Motors, Island Dodge, Island Honda, and “O`ahu”.
Best CD/Record Store
Borders Books and Music
Winning by a landslide, Borders Books and Music gets the nod for Best CD store. The combination of aisles of tunes, mountains of reading material and the gentle aroma of caffinated drinks offers a pretty strong draw to Maui’s music fans. Runner ups include the new and improved Tropical Disc, both Requests music locations, Lahaina’s own Groove 2 Music and the popular chain Tempo Music.
Best Surf Shop
Hi-Tech Surf Sports
In a competitive market like Maui’s surf supplies, the race for number #1 was no less intense. Kim Ball’s Hi-Tech made an early run to get out ahead of Local Motion and stay there. Honolua Surf Co., Extreme Sports Maui and Maui Tropix all stayed close in the running and have their respective loyal followings. Other entrants include Simmer Hawaii in Pa`ia, Lightning Bolt in Kahului and Ole’s shop in Lahaina.
Best Skate Shop
Innovation Skate Shop
There is some credibility to the old saying, “Do one thing, and do it well.” Innovation does one thing, and the readers at Maui Time think they are doing it well. Hi-Tech Surf Sports and Extreme Sports Maui were also given props in the skate department, but Innovation was the people’s choice here.
Thrift Store
Savers
I know I’ve seen half of you there around Halloween time combing the isles for that perfect zoot suit or costume, but Savers is more that an annual trip to most of Maui, it’s become a thrift store institution in central Maui. The Salvation Army gave Savers a good run with much excited “Sally Anne’s!” votes, but not enough in the end.
Best Place to get a Tattoo
Skin Deep Tattoo
While “on your butt” and “prison” remained popular themes, there was a method to my madness here, and that was to award the tattoo shop that Mauians prefer to get inked in. Skin Deep’s artists scored high, nosing out Island Ink and Atomic Tattoo in a close race. Other votes included Alley Cat Tattoo, “mom’s house” and “Micronesia”.
Best Place to Rent a Video
Blockbuster
It was Blockbuster and Premier Video going down to the wire, with the corporate giant squeezing out Maui’s video ventures. Behind Premier fell Hapa Haole in Lahaina, Ha`iku 88 Cent Video, 88¢ Video in Kihei, Extreme Video in Pa`ia and Cinemagic in Pukalani.
Best Place to buy Slippahs
Longs Drugs
Not even close. Mauians go to Longs for their slippah footwear, spending that hard earned $3 on an inch of rubber that protects us from burning asphalt, thorny kiawe branches or the occasional centipede. Long’s closest competitors were K-Mart, Foodland and O`oka’s, but they remained distant at best.
Best Place to Spend Your Last $20
Tropical Disc
Music fans unite! It seems that Mauians would prefer to blow that last Jackson on tunes rather than tacos, although the next runner-up was Compadres’ Taco Tuesday ritual. Other last rites include the gas station, Costco, a matinee movie, “any bar”, and “as close as possible to an ATM”.
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