Lei Ladies of Honolulu

Aloha!

One of the reasons I love my job, it allows me to travel to Honolulu a few times a year to visit our customers.  A few weeks ago, Linda Nguyen and I were in Honolulu to deliver Christmas greens and visit our friends.  

  

A group that we adore and I want to see thrive and survive are the lei ladies of Chinatown and the airport.  Leis are one of the nicest ways to utilize flowers.  On the mainland, we never see the array of exotic leis which are so beautiful.  And when you realize the amount of flowers and work involved - they are an incredible value.   

Chinatown Lei Shops 

In Chinatown Honolulu there are about 13 lei shops.   We stopped to talk to our customers Bronson at Lei of the Island, Mimi and Sam at MP Lei Shop, then Ronny and Cindy at Cindy’s Lei Shoppe.  A few blocks from Chinatown, we stopped at Sunrise Leis to check in on Edith who recently broken her wrist.  Edith is an “Auntie” and has been a great supporter of KB for years and years. We were relieved to see she is up and selling leis again.   We heard the number of lei shops in Chinatown is growing which is surprising but wonderful to hear.

Airport Lei Shops

I had never been to the airport lei shops, but Linda’s customer and friend Milan of Martha’s Leis Stand has her shop there.  The lei shops at the airport started when the tradition of giving leis to arriving passengers.  

Today there are about 10 lei shops at the airport with easy and convenient parking.  

Imagine just $3.00 for a single dendro lei, why wouldn’t you give your arriving friends a lei? 

Lei Future

Another prediction, wearable flowers are a future trend, the lei is where it will have originated from.  We just need Miley Cyrus to start wearing them…

RHK