Gifts, Go-Aheads, and Gear for All Seasons on Lana’i

A shopping spree in Lana’i City can yield top drawer silk aloha shirts, locally made soaps, oil paintings, rubber zoris, hats, fishing lures, children’s books and gourmet jellies. The neatly rectangular Dole Park, where the handful of Lana’i’s shops is located, is the antithesis of a shopping mall yet deceptively full of possibilities.

At Gifts With Aloha, a wide-ranging selection of clothing, Hawaiian music CDs, jewelry and gift items impart a sense of Hawai’i. Lana’i artists, including oil painter Michael Carroll, have made many of the artworks that fill the store, such as the hand turned Cook pine bowls and lei of wiliwili seeds. Owner Kimberly Dupree has amassed an impressive selection of hats, pareaus, bath products, toys and Hawai’i themed books that make marvelous gifts to go.

Around the corner a few feet away, The Local Gentry is the island’s center of stylish aloha shirts and casual men’s and women’s wear. Owner Jenna Gentry has a keen eye for fashion suited to Lana’i and precisely the Tiki or Tommy Bahama aloha shirt that would be a big hit back home.

Across Dole Park, Richard’s Shopping Center is actually an old-fashioned general store, run by the Tamashiro family since 1946. The building was completed in the 1920s and is presumed to be the oldest wooden structure in the town square. You can find the full gamut of daily necessities, such as cosmetics, lauhala mats, school supplies, kitchen appliances, wine, clothing, and fishing lures, as well as meats, produce and other groceries.

The nearby Pine Isle Market is also a local landmark that sells everything from groceries to paint, cigars, hardware and electronic games. Nearby International Food & Clothing is similarly diverse and utilitarian, an emporium for the basics: hunting and fishing supplies, T-shirts and food items, including a large candy section.

Located next to Lana’i’s quaint and only post office is Mike Carroll’s Lana’i Fine Art Gallery, the newest addition to the island art scene. The gallery celebrates the work of two Lana‘i residents; the art work of Mike Carroll and the photos of Ron Gingerich. It also features select artists from around the state of Hawai’i.