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By Root 1086 0

island for tropical plates and cups, hand-painted tiles, artwork, handmade soaps, pillows with tropical designs, and jewelry, this is the place. Plus, they will pack and ship for you anywhere. Farther along, Hanapepe Road is lined with gift shops and galleries, including Koa Wood Gallery ( 80 8/335-5483), with its koa furniture, koa photo albums, and Norfolk pine bowls; and nearby Kauai Fine Arts ( 80 8/335-3778) offers an odd mix that works: antique maps and prints of Hawaii, authentic Polynesian tapa (bark cloth), rare wiliwili-seed leis, old Matson liner menus, and a few pieces of contemporary island art. Taking a cue from Maui’s Lahaina, where every Friday night is Art Night, Hanapepe’s gallery owners and artists recently instituted the Friday Night Art Walk from 6 to 9pm. Gallery owners take turns hosting this informal event along Hanapepe Road.

WAIMEA

Neighboring Waimea is filled with more edibles than art. Kauai’s favorite native supermarket, Big Save ( 80 8/338-1621), serves as the one-stop shop for area residents and passersby heading for the uplands of Kokee State Park, some 4,000 feet above this sea-level village. For more hard-to-find delicious gourmet items, try the Ishihara Market ( 80 8/338-1751), where they have marinated meats, freshly made poke, and a range of prepared picnic items. A cheerful distraction for lovers of Hawaiian collectibles is Collectibles and Fine Junque ( 80 8/338-9855), on Highway 50, next to the fire station on the way to Waimea Canyon. This is where you’ll discover what it’s like to be the proverbial bull in a china shop. (Even a knapsack makes it hard to get through the aisles.) Heaps of vintage linens, choice aloha shirts and muumuus, rare glassware (and junque, too), books, ceramics, authentic 1950s cotton chenille bedspreads, and a back room full of bargain-priced secondhand goodies always capture our attention. You never know what you’ll find in this tiny corner of Waimea.

Up in Kokee State Park, the gift shop of the Kokee Natural History Museum ( 80 8/335-9975) is the stop for botanical, geographical, historical, and nature-related books and gifts, not only on Kauai, but on all the islands. Audubon bird books, hiking maps, and practically every book on Kauai ever written line the shelves.

5 The Coconut Coast

As you make your way from Lihue to the North Shore, you’ll pass Bambulei ( 80 8/823-8641), bordering the cane field in Wailua next to Caffè Coco. Bambulei houses a charming collection of 1930s and 1940s treasures—everything from Peking lacquerware to exquisite vintage aloha shirts to lamps, quilts, jewelry, parrot figurines, and zany salt and pepper shakers. If it’s not vintage, it will look vintage, and it’s bound to be fabulous. Vintage muumuus are often in perfect condition, and dresses go for $20 to $2,000.

Wood-turner Robert Hamada ( 80 8/822-3229) works in his studio at the foot of the Sleeping Giant, quietly producing museum-quality works with unique textures and grains. His skill, his lathe, and his more than 60 years of experience have brought luminous life to the kou, milo, kauila, camphor, mango, and native woods he logs himself.

WAILUA

The Kinipopo Shopping Village, on Kuhio Highway just past Wailea Beach, is more of a minimall than a “shopping village,” but a few places here are worth a stop. Entering The Tin Can Mailman ( 80 8/822-3009) is like stepping into the past. It’s filled with old things Hawaiian, like out-of-print books on Hawaii, rare artifacts, kitschy items from the 1940s, and artwork. Kauai Water Ski and Surf Co. ( 80 8/822-3574) has everything you could possibly need for playing in the water, from swimwear to equipment (fins, mask, snorkel, and so on), all for sale and for rent.

KAPAA

Moving toward Kapaa on Highway 56 (Kuhio Hwy.), don’t get your shopping hopes up; until you hit Kapaa town, quality goods are slim in this neck of the woods. The Coconut Marketplace features the ubiquitous Elephant Walk gift shop, Gifts of Kauai, and various other underwhelming souvenir and clothing shops sprinkled among the sunglass huts. Also check out