Oahu Shopping

http://www.alamoanacenter.com/

http://www.abcstores.com/

I know that I did sort of cover shopping with the Swap Meet, and that sounded like we were not that into it, but that does not explain our fondness for two places.

One was the Ala Moana Shopping Center. It also had a transit center, and pretty much every bus that we needed to catch left from there. There was one bus stop near the hotel that we would take to Ala Moana, and then head out to wherever we were going for the day.

It was pretty convenient from a transportation standpoint, but it also ended up being convenient for dining. There was a large food court that we had several meals at. Yes, this may not have given us the most authentic Hawaiian experience, but we had pretty good traditional foods at both the Polynesian Cultural Center and at the Don Ho Show. While those were combined with entertainment, they were nonetheless pretty expensive, so then being able to save money and have several different options available was helpful.

We did explore the stores here a little, but we ended up doing most of our shopping at the ABC stores.

I have mentioned in my Anaheim writing having an ABC store there, which is our primary source of water and Chocodiles. I do not believe there is any connection between the Anaheim and Honolulu locations other than that someone was looking for top placement in the phone book. That might set low expectations, but we loved the ABC stores.

First of all, their placement was somewhat similar to Starbucks; they were everywhere. You leave one and walk a block and there's another. "Conveniently located" doesn't even begin to describe it.

Often you pay for convenience, but the prices never seemed that terrible. We could get daily necessities like breakfast items, snacks, waters, but they also had a good selection of souvenirs. These stores worked great for us.

There are many other shopping options. There was a Wal-Mart, which we went too, because the others were curious, and I had not yet boycotted them at that time. The prices did not seem that amazing, probably because we were not on the mainland. I did buy some packs of macadamia nuts to give to people there.

On the other side of the spectrum you have many high end stores. I remember the bus passing several times past expensive names: Coach, Tiffany, Chanel, Gucci. That is the Luxury Row referred to in this article:

http://www.themodernhonolulu.com/explore-shopping

It was relatively close to Ala Moana, but distant in a different way. If that's what you're into, it's there. It just reminds me of the economic disparity there, though, and angers me.

There's an outlet mall too. They have everything.