Despite being one of its kind in Honolulu, South Shore Market blends in almost too well. From the outside, it’s completely understated. It looks like just another shopping center, nestled next to stores like TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack. Step inside, though, and you’ll find a surprisingly creative space. In this building, there are high warehouse ceilings and two living walls of plants. There’s a long communal work table against the backdrop of a Kris Goto mural, and a lounge where locals sit cross-legged with friends to chat over drinks or discuss new projects. The space helps bring independent boutiques to the forefront in Honolulu.
Although there are only 18 stores in the market, you could easily spend half a day here just wandering in and out. Rather than playing into stereotypes and selling souvenirs like Hawaiian shirts or leis, the stores feature goods crafted by local artists. They vary in specialty, from houseware to lifestyle tees, but what they all have in common is that they have distinct brands and stories. Here were some of our favorite finds:
Big Bad Wolf: Streetwear for children. Think varsity jackets that sport the phrase “Bigger Badder Radder” or onesies that say “Bawl so hard.” It was founded by Amy Wong, who wanted to dress her children like she dressed herself. The store collaborates with brands like Tokidoki and artists like Andrea Wan, Brendan Monroe, and Souther Salazar to design limited edition specialty tees. It also features all sorts of other things, from toy figurines to artist pins to books.
(Side note: Amy also helped grow the POW! WOW! merchandise brand, working alongside her husband/the festival’s founder, Jasper Wong. It’s always inspiring for me to witness creative Asian couples. Other examples are Michelle Tam + Henry Fong from the cooking blog Nom Nom Paleo and Jimmy Chin + Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, directors of climbing the documentary Free Solo.)
MORI Art + Flea: Handcrafted goods from local makers. It’s a physical retail presence for Art + Flea, a monthly urban market with a focus on fashion, art, music, and food. I really enjoy when things evolve and spill into other forms—in this case, the demand for the market was so high that a retail store made sense.
Here, I found a lot of communication design inspiration. I bought a TRADES Hawaii vinyl sticker that said “H’O SUP BRAH” (“hey, what’s up”). It was fun to learn about Hawaiian slang from my local friends, and fascinating to me since the language used to be considered endangered. Another find was a dad hat that said KALO—a twist on the popular Kale/Yale shirts, but based on the Hawaiian word for taro.
It was also cool to see two publications that inspire me on their tables: Banana Mag, an Asian-American magazine, and Flux Magazine, a local Hawaiian lifestyle magazine.
Dad hats 
Salvage Public: Menswear designed by Hawaiians for Hawaiians. I enjoyed how their clothes capture the local way of living, with many references to the natural world and surfing. My favorite t-shirt in the store said, “Ski Diamond Head”—a fun play on black diamond ski slopes and Diamond Head, a popular volcanic hike in Honolulu. As they describe on their website, it’s “tropical escapism in an upside-down world.”
Despite only having a one-day layover in Honolulu, we ended up visiting South Shore Market twice—once for a quick exploration, and a second time to actually shop. With more time, we would have loved to talk to local store owners to learn more, and we’re definitely hoping to return for a deeper dive in the future.