Martin & MacAthur

KRAVE KOA?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Koa wood is among one of the most beautiful woods around that are made
into artistic and/​or quality items.
Koa wood gifts are commonly used locally
for significant life changing events
& honors. I still treasure my amazing engraved Koa Box
that we all received when we graduated from JABSOM
(John A. Burn’s School of Medicine) @ UH Manoa.
The last time I shopped here,
I picked up an amazing curly wood Koa walking cane, that
was a great, but pricey ($ 300) replacement,
for a cheap $ 15 folding Rite Aid cane.
I was in town for the APA medical conference at the
Convention Center. I took the opportunity to visit old friends,
& tried to walk to, many of the places,
that evoked all kinds of memories,
along with quite a bit of pain.
At that time,
I was still pre-​op for my later major back surgery,
so I had severe Neuropathic
pain in my right leg, especially with walking…
thus I needed a good cane, that also looked better
than a plastic piece of junk. Until you really need one,
you cannot imagine how hard it is to find classy looking ones.
This one was very classy, yet functional.
Whenever I stopped by here, I would almost always pick up
another set of Koa Chopsticks. Since you cannot trust Amazon
or anyone to pick & send you what you may think is a good
pair…you just have to do it in person.
Once you get to sizes that are bigger than a «breadbox», you are
certain to drop some serious coin. Most of it is overpriced here,
but if you are not sticking around long, they will pack it nicely
& ship it to the mainland. I did have a very nice curly wood
bowl, done by a local artist sent to the mainland, without a
problem.
Like so many places in Ala Moana, they try to hard sell you on
the products… which do not need it, since they are so
nice…and so expensive. Once again, you are treated as
a «dumb» tourist even if you are not… but I guess that is
how they pay the crazy rents here.
If you are passing through, they sure do have a nice sweet
spot in the $ 100 – 500 range for quality gifts. This is definitely
not a 99 Cents store!
BTW– unless you are willing to part with many thousands
of dollars do not even bother to consider Koa furniture.
At these prices, it would likely be better to commission
someone local to make one to your specs…

Expensive but unique and interesting koa wood items — general décor, jewelry, and pieces of art. There are non-​koa things as well — including what I think were fancy purses and such — but koa wood seemed to be the focus. The staff is very helpful, although almost too much so as they stick close to you as you wander in order to explain the provenance — which I have to admit was generally interesting — of many of the items in the store.

Oriental lady worker couldn’t speak English, and rolled her eyes at my dad. That’s terrible customer service if you ask me. My dad didn’t even do or say anything to her and she scolded him.
Sad because they have such beautiful woodwork.

I had previously given Martin & MacArthur a very poor review, but after having a very bad customer service experience here, I made a few phone calls and spoke to a VP at Martin & MacArthur and my issue was solved to my satisfaction.

If you don’t want to buy a cheap souvenir and waant something Hawaiian that you can proudly display in your curio, then you need to head into this shop. It is a chain, but it’s a high end chain. It will be expensive. But quality Koa products are going to be expensive.