Honolulu - Ala Moana Shopping Center

Hawaii's oldest and largest shopping center lies between Ala Moana Boulevard, Pikoi Street, Kapiolani Boulevard and Atkinson Boulevard. It is only five minutes by bus from Waikiki and can easily be reached from there on foot. More than 100 shops, several department stores, many restaurants, two banks and a post office (the only one in Honolulu which stays open on Saturdays until 4.30 p.m.) are to be found under one roof.

There is hardly anything that cannot be bought here, making it an essential place to visit. No fewer than four department stores are in this shopping center - Sears, Liberty House, Penney's and Shirokaya (a Japanese concern only selling Japanese goods). There is also an enormous Woolworths, the Honolulu Book Shop (the largest in the state with an unbeatable range of literature about Hawaii) and Long's Drugs - almost a small department store in itself (and the cheapest supplier of photographic equipment, particularly films, which are less expensive in Hawaii than on the mainland). In the Makai Market Food Court on the ground floor there are food shops and about a dozen snack bars.

The expensive fittings in the shops - such as marble floors - have caused the shopping center to gain the reputation during recent years as a "shopping temple". Rich customers, often Japanese tourists with filled shopping bags, are everywhere to be seen here.

There is no problem parking in the huge car park. Be sure to buy a plan of the shopping center in order to avoid unnecessary walking.