Post #100897 by Kono on Sat, Jul 10, 2004 9:49 PM

I don't think the Orlando Hilo Hattie's is going to be around too much longer either. It may already be gone for all I know. When I first went there they had tons of Tiki Farm mugs but with every subsequent visit the mug stock was smaller and smaller. Sounds good right? They're selling stuff right? But they never restocked! Last time I was there they had maybe 20% of the number of mugs that they had the first time I visited. Maybe HQ has given up on them.

The store is in a poor location. They're in Festival Bay mall which has a monster Ron Jon store and a monster Bass Pro store but both of those retailers have store access from the outside (and RJ's door is flanked by two extremely large tikis!). All the shops inside the mall are pretty dead and most seem to be failing. There's very little foot traffic inside that mall.

Too bad for Hilo Hattie's. I did lend my monetary support for a while but after five or six visits there's little left to buy, especially if they're not restocking. They have ZERO local advertising as well.

I'll have to zip over there soon and see how they're doing. Get me some chocolate macadamia nuts at the very least.

*When you go into the store they have a large rectangular display case with jewelry up front, like Kay Jewelers or something. They seem to emphasize this and try to steer shoppers to the high dollar stuff in the cases (I guess its high dollar, I never looked). Pearl neck...errr...jewelry and such. I think that may be a major tactical error on the company's part. They actually seem a little amused when you buy tiki mugs and the kitschy stuff. On a recent visit one cashier actually remarked to a girl working the floor: "He's into Tiki! Remember I told you my daughter likes the Tiki?!" Like Tiki is somehow unusual to the HH staff. I think they've missed the mark.