Oahu Shopping

Oahu Shopping Tips From The Locals

Oahu Shopping has Many Flavors Where East Blends With West

You’ll find stores with exotic Hawaiian and Polynesian influence… stores with Asian persuasion… and Oahu’s surfing culture mixed in. Alongside are the familiar stores found in the US mainland and they all seem to fit together so well… just like Hawaii’s blended cultures.

There is something so welcoming about shopping on Oahu… being unencumbered from heavy clothing and feeling the warm breeze in the open-air malls year round. Take time to relax and learn the culture while shopping. The aloha spirit is all around you.

Prefer air conditioning? There are shopping areas for you too!

Find a wealth of detailed advice. Learn where to buy groceries… find Hawaiian print clothing… purchase a surfboard… and get locally grown produce at farmers’ markets… and much more.

Click Here for Oahu Grocery Stores & Long’s Drugs Stores With Maps

Do locals really wear aloha shirts or is it just for tourists? Get the true inside scoop about Hawaiian print clothing and what the locals actually wear.

HINT: Even the familiar big box stores carry aloha shirts. You won’t find these in their US mainland counterparts.

Outdoor Swap Meets The Fun Alternative for Your Oahu Shopping

The massive Aloha Stadium Swap Meet is the granddaddy of all swap meets! It circles around the outside of the stadium where the Pro Bowl is sometimes held and has over 400 vendors. Do you realize how big a football stadium is? The last time I shopped there it had 3 rows encircling the stadium. What a shopaholic’s dream!

It’s a great place to buy affordable souvenirs, Hawaiian print clothing, and produce as well as crafts and jewelry from local artisans. You can even acquire a taste for authentic local food here.

Locals and tourists alike frequent this swap meet. When my boys were young and not brand conscious yet I bought most of their school clothes at this swap meet.

ALOHA STADIUM SWAP MEET

99-500 Salt Lake Blvd

Aiea, HI 96701

(808) 486-6704

Wednesday, Saturday 8 am to 3 pm, Sunday 6:30 am to 3 pm

Entry Fee $1.00, 11 and under free

NOTE: This swap meet is closed when the stadium has a sporting even such as University of Hawaii football games.

Another honorable mention is the Kam Swap Meet which was a local icon located in Aiea at the old Kam Drive-In Theater. Sadly it is no longer open! It had an even more local feel than the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. I sold goods there on a few occasions many years ago when my boys were young. It will be a cherished memory for many local folks.

My wedding on Oahu was a fairy-tale come true!

Read my story and see what popular vendors locals use to plan their weddings. Learn where I got my Hawaiian wedding dress, groom’s ring and ordered the flowers and leis. I had my husband’s wedding shirt custom made and he cherishes his ring patterned after Hawaiian royalty.

See maps of store locations and get driving directions. Find information for using Oahu’s public transit system… The Bus… to get to your shopping destination.