Black Friday on Maui – a little late!
Anytime anyone comments on retail in a tourist-dominated area, there are really two stories. How retail fared for the actual residents of the area (90,000 on Maui) and how retail fared for the tourists/vacationers (as many as 175,000 at any one time – a drop of 15% over the previous year due to the economic climate).
Many Western Canadians and Oregon, California residents know Maui very well. Must less urban that Oahu, more urban that Kuaui, it is the preferred sun destination for many. and the semi-permanent home of many Canadian ex-pats. Most timeshares are owned by either Californians or Canadians like hubby and me. New Timeshare development is banned on Maui so those of us with existing time slots in quality existing developments feel ourselves lucky. Ok, back to Black Friday.
I couldn’t observe any noticeable difference in spending by the tourists on Maui this Black Friday. Places at the Shops at Wailea – Gucci, Chico’s, St. John, Louie Vuitton, Fendi or Coach or add Tommy Bahamas and countless high end jewellry stores at Whaler’s Village in Kaanapali don’t go in for 5:00 a.m. openings or breathtaking specials to lure customers in.
shoot a canyon?
We travelled from Kihei to Kahalui on Black Friday – hubby had to have a few items from Walmart and Sears and we always attend the Saturday Swap Meet. Sears is one of the anchors, along with Macy’s, for the huge Queen Kaahumanu Center in Kahalui. As you can see, there was literally no one there despite the fact that Sears had a fancier LG fridge almost identical to one we recently bought in Canada for virtually 1/2 the price we paid and you can see here Macy’s had already marked down the holiday season decorations 50% with another 10% off. I found a $240.00 Liz Claiborne piece of luggage for $70.00 including tax!
50% off already on seasonal decorations
There were no particular deals nor any customers to speak of, much less crowds at Lowe’s, Home Depot, K Mart, Gap, Pier One, Borders, etc. etc. These are all stand-alone big boxes, the only other mall is near Lahaina, mostly teen-focused and we didn’t make it there. Costco was busy, but then Costco is always busy on Maui.
There was a ‘local manufacturer/retailer’ display in the courtyard at the Queen Kaahumanu Center and it was doing booming business. I include the following picture to show Karen Flavelle, President at Purdy’s Chocolates, the local lavender grower/retailer the nifty purple Santa Hats.
Check out the purple Santa hats, Karen!
But, there was a REALLY noticeable exception and it was, you guessed it, Walmart. If you have ever been to Maui, you know they have a huge store (recently re-merchandised) in Kahalui, not too far from the sugar refinery and close to the airport. You access it off the main highway from Kihei/Wailea to the airport and the access road is about 1 mile long. At 5:00 a.m. the entire access road and out onto the highway was blocked with a car lineup and I estimate there was over 1,000 people at the door. The volume hadn’t decreased much when we headed back to the condo at 10:00 a.m. It seemed the crowd was nearly Maui all residents, although apart from race its hard to pick out the tourists on an entirely accurate scale. There were bargains galore, of course, with the biggest one a $150.00 laptop.
Where were all the other people? At the swapmeet, of course. The swapmeet is really for another blog – it’s tremendously unique, attracts both residents and tourists, devotes very little to ‘swapping’ anything and everything to locally-made clothing, produce, linens, etc. Why do a blog on a swapmeet? Because I want to. Here’s just a taste of what’s available. MILLIONS of Canadians wear these tops and shorts, dresses, etc. and they are only available at the Kahalui swap meet on Maui.
Hand Painted T-Shirts for $5.00
The message of this blog…..I wonder if Black Friday will slowly fizz out. It surely wasn’t the big deal it used to be on Maui. (we are there almost every US Thanksgiving as that’s when our timeshare is). My tweeps, LinkedIn contacts and Facebook friends all talk about the fact retailers that constantly offer bargain pricing (or high value pricing) like Walmart are faring better during this economic climate and are attracting new customers who are likely to stay even after the economy improves.
Most of us local residents dont materialize the way you Canadians,California Oregonians do. I bet black friday is fizzing out because of the state poverty level, people need more bargins for food and health supplements. Luck you, got a timeshare, if you had a heart you woul donate itto a Hawaiian family in need, or not support Hawaii at all. Its people like you that ruin the home of Maui for people like me who have been born and raised here and have to deal with the truth drug abusers homeless crackheads, babies born addicted to drugs with a 15 year old mothers, abusive households, fighting and poverty. You all are blind you think Maui is a place ofaloha, did you know people are murdered everyday on this island. Wake up! Stop sharing lies of my home share the truth if you ever look, try next time. Locals are forced to serve tourists to feed their families, not because they want to,and the few that do it happily still dont like you and all of your intrusive ignorant people like you that want to visit the people of paradise, check the history (none of it truth about the people of Polynesia that founded the islands you know of as Hawaii Nei.
Thanks for posting this! I’m reading it a year later, but it’s quite helpful. I briefly thought about going to Walmart in the early AM, but changed my mind when I saw your post. Wow. I can’t imagine the chaos that is there!!
(In case you’re wondering, I found your post from a Google search for Walmart’s Black Friday Hours Maui.)