Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [166]
Nearby, set back from the main road across from Foodland supermarket, is Marta’s Boat ( 80 8/822-3926). Once one of the island’s more appealing boutiques for children and women, today it’s more art and unusual gift items, but you still can find terrific accessories and chic clothing.
Among the green-and-white wooden storefronts of nearby Kauai Village, you’ll find everything from trite marine art to Yin Chiao Chinese cold pills and organic produce at Papayas Natural Foods ( 80 8/823-0190). Although its prepared foods are way overpriced, Papayas carries the full range of health-food products and is your only choice in the area for vitamins, health foods to go, health-conscious cosmetics, and bulk food items.
Less than a mile away, on the main road, the Waipouli Variety Store is Kapaa’s version of Maui’s fabled Hasegawa General Store—a tangle of fishing supplies, T-shirts, thongs, beach towels, and souvenirs. Fishermen love this store as much as cookie lovers swear by nearby Popo’s Cookies, the ne plus ultra of store-bought cookies on the island. Popo’s chocolate-chip, macadamia-nut, chocolate–macadamia nut, chocolate-coconut, almond, peanut butter, and other varieties of butter-rich cookies are among the most sought-after food items to leave the island.
And Kapaa town is full of surprises. On the main strip, across from Sunnyside Market, you’ll find the recently expanded Kela’s Glass Gallery ( 80 8/822-4527), the island’s showiest showplace for handmade glass in all sizes, shapes, and prices, with the most impressive selection in Hawaii. The gallery now has new owners who display more than 50 artists specializing in glass. Go nuts over the vases and studio glass pieces, functional and nonfunctional. The gallery also has a great collection of hand-carved and hand-painted wooden flowers. Continue on to Hula Girl ( 80 8/822-1950), where the wonderful and the dreamy prevail, with aloha shirts (very pricey), vintage-looking luggage covered with decals of old Hawaii, Patrice Pendarvis prints, zoris, sandals, sunglasses, and shells.
Across the street is the town’s favorite fashion stop, Island Hemp & Cotton ( 80 8/821-0225), where Hawaii’s most stylish selection of this miracle fabric is sold: gorgeous silk-hemp dresses, linen-hemp sportswear, hemp aloha shirts, Tencel clothing, T-shirts, and wide-ranging, attractive, and comfortable clothing and accessories that have shed the hippie image. It’s also a great store for gift items, from Balinese leather goods to handmade paper, jewelry, luxury soaps, and natural-fiber clothing for men and women. A few doors to the north, Orchid Alley ( 80 8/822-0486) gets our vote for most adorable nursery on the island. A narrow alcove opens into a greenhouse of phalaenopsis, oncidiums, dendrobiums, and dozens of brilliant orchid varieties for shipping or carryout.
6 The North Shore
Kauai’s North Shore is the premier shopping destination on the island. Stylish, sophisticated galleries and shops, such as Kong Lung, in a 1942 Kilauea stone building (the last to be built on the Kilauea Plantation) off Highway 56 on Kilauea Road ( 80 8/828-1822), have launched these former hippie villages into top-drawer shopping spots. Save your time, energy and, most of all, discretionary funds for this end of the island. Kong Lung, through all its changes, including pricier merchandise in every category, remains a showcase of design, style, and quality, with merchandise from top-of-the-line dinnerware and bath products to aloha shirts, jewelry, ceramics, women’s wear, stationery, and personal and home accessories. The book selection is fabulous, and the home accessories—sake sets, tea sets, lacquer bowls, handblown glass, pottery—are unequaled in Hawaii. The items are expensive, but browsing here is a joy.
Directly behind Kong Lung is Lotus Gallery ( 80 8/828-9898), a showstopper for lovers of antiques and designer jewelry. Good juju abounds here. The serenity and beauty will envelop