If you want to shop till you drop all you have to do is head to Central Maui. This is where the shoppers of Maui converge. We took the liberty of delving deep into the sideroads of Maui’s shopping Mecca to bring you the juicy details of where to go to find the most unique gifts Maui has to offer. It doesn’t matter who is on your Christmas list—you can find them something in Central Maui.
We began our journey on Market St. in Wailuku. This street is an antique hunter’s dream, but you will also find many treasures in the pawn shops, art and gift shops. Shop at Kama’aina Loan, Old Daze Antiques, Lizzie K., Emura’s and Paradise Buy and Sell in the block north of Main alone. We traveled a little farther north to find the Maui Booksellers bookstore and settled in at Sheila’s Junktique. Sheila has a little of everything in her shop and she is willing to take on a bit more. Bring in your stuff to trade and get store credits to do your shopping with. We couldn’t decide if the giant glass candy jar or the plastic set of mugs circa 1960 were a better purchase, but both sell for around $10. Right next door at Sandell Artworks we found a hand-painted toilet seat, one-of-a-kind art pieces, clothing and Wailuku maps done by the artist himself. Who doesn’t need art for their porcelain throne?
Traveling down Mill Street on our way to Lower Main we stopped at Eco, a consignment store filled with knickknacks, framed art and jewelry. Great stuff for Moms and Aunties who love collectables here. On Lower Main Paradise Spice is your emporium for adult gifts with a great collection of videos, magazines, toys, lingerie and more. If you have a Jenna Jameson fan in the family you won’t go wrong here. From here we pulled into The Fish Shack just down the road. Fish are some of the best pets in the world, they are also very feng shui. At The Fish Shack you will find fish for every kind of owner, tanks of every size, plus they have outdoor fish ponds, lily pads and koi fish, if you really want to get fancy. Believe it or not they also carry gourmet dog bakery treats and dog pet supplies. Our two dogs inhaled the bow-wow turnovers we picked up here.
Now our shopping extravaganza leads to Maui Mall, which we must point out it isn’t really a mall at all. The shops here are of a great variety to please the whole family. Spotlight Fashionz has the trendy clothes for guys and girls, Maui Creations for your handmade artisan Hawaiian gifts, jewelry, books, pareos and Tahitian pearls, and East West Imports is the place for gifts from Asia. Sport fanatics will delight in the Runner’s Paradise, while the ocean lovers can head to The Foam Company for their gear, deals on body boards, fins, leashes and clothing.
Just down the street on Alamaha, Futon Lifestyles has great futons and furnishings, but did you know their silk flower arrangements are amazing? They also carry great covers and pillow sets for futons. Furnishing your home is not out of the question for Christmas. Around the corner on Hana Highway is Bounty Music, so why not buy your boyfriend that guitar he wants? Bounty will also have the sheet music he needs to serenade you with. Their selection of instruments, amps and accoutrements is mind-blowing, this is the heart of island music composition—all you need is the artist.
An easy gift that’s always appropriate at Christmas is the cookie. We stopped in at Maui’s Dee-Lites to buy a secret Santa gift—a box of their mixed cookies. Always a hit, this box of delicious shortbread, chocolate chip, and peanut butter cookies is better than any Danish assortment tin.
Our last stop in Kahului was at Macnet on Dairy and Hana Highway. This deluxe shop will have most computer nerds drooling with the beautiful 30-inch flat screens, Mac minis, and imac G5’s, but what you’re gonna see on everyone’s Christmas list is the video iPod we found here. If you already have an iPod then they have every accessory you can think of for this handy MP3 player plus a home theater room, software, cases, laptops, printers and other computer gadgets.
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