Kauai - Shopping

Shopping on Kauai is good laid-back fun. Most of the retail stores you'll find here are the small, boutique-sized variety, so your experience is anything but hectic. You'll find treasure after treasure browsing through the tiny shops and casual shopping centers in Kapaa, Wailua, Poipu, Koloa, Hanapepe and Hanalei. The most common finds include hand-carved koa bowls and boxes, Hawaiian quilts, and fine art from paintings and sculptures to jewelry, ceramics and photography. 

Be on the lookout for unique Kauai-made products. Original Red Dirt Shirts are made from rust-red soil. Island soap blends kukui, macadamia, olive, coconut and palm oils with tropical scents like plumeria, vanilla papaya, orange passion fruit, and mango-coconut-guava. Other popular merchandise includes Kauai-made woodworking, artwork and clothing. And don't pass over the Niihau shell jewelry, exotic flowers for your room, or edibles like Kauai Kookie Kompany guava macadamia nut cookies, farm-fresh produce, papaya seed Hawaiian Hula salad dressings, or any one of the flavorful brews from the Kauai Coffee Company -- which you can also pick up at the plantation itself. 

Believe it or not, there are two major malls and one large department store on Kauai, Kukui Grove mall in Lihue being the larger of the two. The boutiques, however, can be found in small shopping centers and large resorts throughout the island.