*plays taps for my Hilo Hatties* :(

My Hilo Hatties is GONE. Deceased. It was at The Dolphin Mall here in Miami, and used to be in a HUGE store when it first opened. The store facade was so cool! And the inside was a dream to me. Then the sales werent what they expected (even though I was there, like, every day. Apparently one tiki-obsessed-customer does not a fruitful business make). So they moved it to another location at the mall. A tiny little store, with no interesting store facade whatsoever. Made it harder to even spot. But I still sought it out for all of my local tiki needs. (And you all know what I mean when I say NEED).

The other day I had a date who took me to the movies at that mall. I told him I needed a new mug, and we headed down to the good ol' H.H. It was gone. GONE I tell you.

What gives? Why isnt all of Miami as Tiki-obsessed as I am, that it couldnt stay in business? What is WRONG with these people?!?!?

And where do I go now to get my quickie-fix for tiki goods? Back to the internet I suppose. sigh

Aloha Hilo Hatties. This girl is going to miss you.

~Lenore

PS: When the big store closed and they moved it to the tiny location, I asked the people who worked there why they dont get a lot of business. One of them said "We get SOME, but mostly snowbirds, and those zany nutty Brazilians. Youre, like, the only non-Brazilian and LOCAL person who shops here. Where are you from anyway?"
Hilarious. I may have grown up in N'awlins, but only after I moved there from my hometown, of zany nutty Brazil. :wink: lol

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.

I was lucky enough to hear about and attend the grand opening of the HH in Orlando last year. Before I moved away I managed to build up a nice chunk of my collection from there, tiki mugs, lamp, shirts, music, etc.

I was back home a couple of months ago and managed to sneak in a lunch hour visit, stocked up a little bit more. It was good to go in and get my fix, the HH here in Nashville closed just before I moved here. Damn! To me, it makes more sense that this one didn't make it, but Miami and/or Orlando?

I used to go in the Orlando store after my first few visits and ask the manager when they would get new tiki stuff in because I pretty much had everything in the store. I would still go in about every week or two just to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything.

Hopefully I will have a chance to come home for a week or so this summer, keep us posted on the fate of the Orlando store and sorry to hear about Miami......

-Todd

Maybe we should make a point to visit the Mainland Hilo Hattie's before they all go away?

Orange, Ca.
The Block at Orange
20 City Boulevard West
Building H, Suite 118,
Orange, California 92868
Phone: 714.769.3255
Fax: 714.769.3267
Store Hours: Sunday thru Thursday 10:00 am - 9:30 pm Friday & Saturday 10:00 am - 11:00 pm
Driving Directions

Las Vegas, Nevada
The Aladdin Hotel & Casino - Desert Passage Mall
3663 Las Vegas Blvd., Ste. 255
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Phone: 702.733.6900
Fax: 702.733.6227
Store Hours: Sunday thru Thursday 10:00 am - 11:00 pm
Friday & Saturday 10:00 am - 12:00 am
Driving Directions

Orlando, Florida
Festival Bay
5250 International Drive, Space 44
Orlando, FL 32819
Phone: 407.345.2970
Fax: 407.345.2974
Store Hours: Open Monday thru Thursday 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Friday 10:00 am - 9:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am - 8:00 pm
Sunday 12:00 am - 5:00 pm
Driving Directions

I visited the Orlando store right before driving up to Hale Tiki's grand opening.
The friendly manager, Jorge, told me that H.H. was going to open a store in Altamonte Mall.
Anyway, they always seem to have new styles of Aloha shirts and I bought a couple for Tristan's brithday (on sale!!!!). I got a great mug but I noticed that the mug assortment wasn't as good as earlier visits. I'm going to contact Jorge and ask him about Miami and the future of Orlando.

Hey kipepeo-this is indeed sad news! I used to use Hila Hattie's as a great excuse to actually get out of the office. I work about 10 Min. from the Dolphin Mall and was also there a lot. DAMMIT! But I'm grateful to hear it here from you. I would have hated seeing it closed without being prepared for it.

Where am I gonna get my party supplies now!??

Aloha!

We lost ours also. It was in the Arizona Mills mall. It was huge but didn't do the volume it needed to stay around.

I had a long conversation with Jorge about the status of the Orlando location; he had just returned from closing the Miami store........He assured me that Hilo Hatties is committed to the Orlando store, however, the Altamonte mall location is put "on hold" for now.
Jorge said the there are some new tikis arriving soon, some 36" tall and he's looking in to ordering some more mugs. The home office controls the stock in all the stores and caters to the Hawaiian tourist market, but Jorge is aware that Florida has repeat clientele that likes new items. It's very important for us to continually support such a special place and also to keep providing feedback to Jorge about what type of items we want the store to stock.......

On 2004-07-13 08:59, Tiki Bree wrote:
I had a long conversation with Jorge about the status of the Orlando location........and also to keep providing feedback to Jorge about what type of items we want the store to stock.......

Tiki Farm mugs. Tikis. Tiki accessories. Tiki ephemera. Basically...Tiki.

Seriously, I wish they'd get some new Tiki Farm stock. They used to have quite a bit and I'd rather buy in a store than online. Any other mugs would be cool but the high dollar collectors' stuff wouldn't likely sell.

I met with the person who has the decor from the Miami Hilo Hatties this weekend. The Nashville store closed about a year ago too.

To the left the giant Ku started int he Filipines and finished on the islands. To the right, the large hula gal with motorized hips and hand. The Men's and Women's signs above.

Kiliki with this awesome carving.

The huge dancer up close.

Look for the whole trip report soon.

I went to the Orlando HH on Saturday so yes, it's still there. I was disappointed with the selection. The whole front area is jewelry and food. The section in the middle had a slim selection of tiki.

On 2004-07-13 08:59, Tiki Bree wrote:
Jorge said the there are some new tikis arriving soon, some 36" tall and he's looking in to ordering some more mugs.

I stopped by today and it appears that he did order at least one 36" tiki and a few new mugs. But only a few. There was a different color Kulapepiao and a couple other Tiki Farm mugs that I don't remember being there before. I bought a Giant Ku mug myself. When I first discovered HH there had to be 100+ Tiki Farm mugs there. Now there's less than 30 I would say. Obviously they sell, so why not keep more in stock?

Regarding the 36" tiki: it's yer typical constipated Ku, and it's made of wood and pretty nice. Nothing outstanding, just a nice standard tiki that kind of looks like a giant Coco Joe's piece. I was thinking I might have to buy it. The 12" resin tiki is fourteen bucks so how much would a 36" wood tiki cost? Seventy, eighty bucks? $500 they wanted for it. $500! Needless to say, it's still there if anyone's interested.

Ron Jon's got a neat Moai lamp for $96. Really nice lamp with cool shade. I'd say the moai was maybe 16" or 18" tall. I overheard some little kids bugging their mom: "Can we get some tikis? Can we get some tikis?" Cool! She said "No" though.

HH store in Orange will be there for a long time. Also there is the online store, but not the same as being there. Everything in store is available online.

A hui hou