Friday 14 March 2014

Shopping, Hawaii-style

Anyone hoping for a post on how we bought Hawaiian shirts, ukuleles, grass skirts and bikini tops made from coconut shells is going to be sorely disappointed. For us, Hawaii was well and truly the 50th state of the USA as far as shopping was concerned.

On our first full day there we were unfeasibly happy to find an outlet mall where a number of our favourite US brands had stores - GAP, Banana Republic, Crocs; there was even a Lucky Brand, although we do find it to be very hit and miss, and this time it was definitely a miss. We also found a Safeway supermarket where we were able to stock up on a few edible goodies. Not to mention a secondhand book store where I got lucky (so to speak) in the cozy crime section. On the second day we found an Old Navy, and then of course there was the unexpected stop-over in San Francisco which furnished us with the opportunity to visit the fantabulous Williams-Sonoma (it's like a gold-plated version of Lakeland) and the fooooood heaven that is The Cheesecake Factory where I may, or may not, have purchased four slices of pure bliss from this little selection:
This is the shopping from Day One. 
And this is pretty much everything I bought during our entire trip.

We hit pay dirt in the outlet mall since Banana Republic and Gap were offering major discounts (50% and 30% respectively) off their already discounted prices. Hubby loves Gap and BR for shirts, so he really stocked up. In the photo below you can see two of the shirts I got from BR (the green/blue diamond pattern one on the left for $18.50 and the navy one with red boats at the bottom for $25); the green top at the back was $23 from Gap and the blue pj bottoms on the right were an absolute steal at just over $4 (about £2.50!)
The blue stripe (left), blue floral (centre) and denim (bottom left) tops all came from Old Navy along with a red stripe swim shirt that I've managed to miss out.

Reading matter: I picked up a couple of the US home magazines that I enjoy at San Francisco airport. Luckily our village shop orders in some other US mags that I love to read, so I don't have to travel quite so far to get my monthly fix.

And I got the five cosy crime books for just $8 in a second-hand book store in Kahalui. Reeeeesult.
Food! Ahhh, all that chocolate-y goodness! Saying that, a lot of the things in this photo were brought back as gifts. I've only kept the Reese's bars (ahem, just eight of them...), milk choc-covered Graham crackers from Starbucks (again, only eight packs...), the Goldfish crackers and the crunchy Cheetos. Oh, and the Starbucks hot chocolate. And the Milka bars (given to us on the plane - Lufthansa snacks are the best.)
The Reese's bars in glorious technicolour close up. Mmmmmmm.
Not forgetting the clothes and Crocs for DC. Two t-shirts from Gap, a zip up hooded top and t-shirt from Old Navy, and two pairs of Crocs.
And last, but not least, (please excuse awful awful photo) this wonderful hula dancing Father Christmas to add to our selection of Xmas decs from around the globe.
Mele kalikimaka, as they say in Hawaii.

10 comments:

  1. This was the post I was waiting for - drum roll....the shopping! Looks like you scored some major bargains there. I haven't tried the chocolate-covered graham crackers from Starbucks, will have to check those out.

    If your husband's company ever plans an event like this one in Virginia, you'll love the Williamsburg Premium Outlets. Lots of goodies to be had there. Virginia may not be as exciting as Hawaii but we're close to Washington DC and we have Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown for sightseeing and Busch Gardens and Water Country USA for fun. You'd have to come in the summer though!

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    1. If you like your chocolate biscuits to be well-covered in chocolate, then the Starbucks graham crackers are for you!
      I'll had the Williamsburg Outlets to my list!

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  2. Wow that's a lot of shopping, and I need to visit the cheesecake heaven place!
    I'm loving the Christmas dec too. Have a great weekend

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    1. If only the Cheesecake Factory would open a UK branch. I wonder if they're a franchise...

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  3. Crikey that is a lot of shopping - hope you took a spare case to carry it all back in!
    Love the Father Christmas!!

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    1. Luckily hubby travelled very light on the way out so there was plenty of room in his suitcase. And mine was expanded to the limit on the way back!

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  4. What fun, retail therapy, yes, yes, yes. I love Reeses and Cheetos! Banana Republic is one of my favorite stores.

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    1. We need to get together for snacks and shopping!

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  5. Wow - brilliant shopping. Your little Father Christmas decoration has just reminded me of some Christmas cards I bought one year in Hawaii - happy days!

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  6. Wow - brilliant shopping. Your little Father Christmas decoration has just reminded me of some Christmas cards I bought one year in Hawaii - happy days!

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