Our neighborhood dose of Aloha, the Hawaii General Store expressed surprise and gratitude at the Vanishing Seattle post encouraging shoppers to save their store.
Hawaii General is a place I visit periodically when I am looking for a cheerful trinket to fill an advent calendar, a fresh lei to cement a celebration, or just a friendly face and some kind chatter. One of my first times in, the owner took one look at my then toddler son and deemed him “kolohe”–a rascal. For what it’s worth, she was absolutely correct. This is the warm neighborliness — the solid dose of aloha — that I have come to know and expect from Hawaii General.
Vanishing Seattle writes in an Instagram post: Hawai’i General Store & Gallery is at risk of closing by this summer if business doesn’t pick up. The longtime #Wallingford store at 258 NE 45th St is the only Hawai’i-specific shop in #Seattle, operating for 26 years as a resource and hub for folks from the islands and beyond.
Opened in 1998 by Gail Stringer, #HawaiiGeneralStore is women-, LGBTQ-, and family-owned, offering Hawaiian-style clothing, aloha shirts & dresses, home décor, food, art, music, books, gifts, books, luau and hulu supplies and more. Their food includes Punalu’u Bakery sweet breads, fresh poi and kūlolo, and ono snacks like shrimp chips, Lin’s gummy bears, crack seed, li hing mui, cuttlefish, Donna’s cookies, mochi mix and more – providing a taste of home to their many loyal customers and “helping people feel and stay connected to Hawai’i.”
HGS is especially known for its fresh, custom flower leis for graduations, weddings, and other special occasions – including plumeria, orchid, ginger, pikake and haku leis – with their lovely fragrances filling the shop. HGS even does travel services to Hawai’i.
HGS hosts live Kanikapila music and jam sessions at the shop with groups like Gary n Friends, and at neighboring businesses like Kate’s Pub. They’ve also done Hawai’ian language and arts & crafts classes, and organized relief fundraisers and donation drives for families following the devastating wildfires in Lahaina.
HGS is also beloved for the welcoming staff / “aunties” that make customers feel like family, the friendly shop dogs, and their promotion of other Hawai’ian events, musicians, and businesses.
Apparently HGS has been experiencing a particularly slow season, so go show them some support and enjoy this longstanding neighborhood gem.
Upon reading this, the Hawaii General team responded with a facebook post of their own writing:
,To us the most important thing that can come from this post is that we all remember how important it is to shop the small, local businesses that are big part of each of our “villages ”.
In keeping with Native Hawaiian culture, especially at this time of year when people are giving leis for graduations, encourage your friends and family to make their own lei with natural PNW materials. If you don’t have the time or skill then please purchase yours from one of the small, Hawaii related businesses, who sell them. Check out the Facebook page Hawaiians in Washington to find them. PLEASE don’t shop at the big box stores who just bring lei in, in bulk for these couple of weeks. We opened this store back before everyone used the internet so there would be a place for people from Hawaii and people who love Hawaii to gather, feel a sense of aloha, smell flowers from home, learn what Hawaiian happenings were going on around town. And maybe pick up crack seed, poi, laulau, some other local style foods, art or clothing that reminds all of us of home. We wanted it to be a place where Hawaii-loving folks could come talk story and feel like they were back in The Islands, where the exchange of aloha was constant whether you were buying something or not. This store has never been about making money, enough money to stay in business, yes, but it has been about making community. Our store ‘ohana who have helped grow and sustain this place are amazing and we all know we wouldn’t still be here without the support of our extended ‘ohana of customers. There are so many of you and it’s wonderful to see your faces every time you come in or we deliver to you.
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