International Market Place Status

[artringwald]

Just went through the new place. The new one doesn't have the same charm, but it is nicer than I thought it would be, and they didn't seem to harm the banyan tree. Here's about 30 pictures:

https://artringwald.smugmug.com/Travel/Waikiki-International-Market-Place/

 

[clifffaith]

Many of them are in a corridor called Duke's Lane/Duke's Marketplace next to the Holiday Inn and only a block from the International Marketplace.

Wish we'd seen this last week. We asked where the booths had gone and were told they were gone (including asking a bus tour guide). We were last in Waikiki Jan. 2015 and the Marketplace was quite reduced in size, but there were still plenty of tchotchkes to be had. We were sad this time to see it vanish and are bummed that we missed Duke's Lane. We'd had a $225 meal at Hy's Steakhouse one evening and when Cliff saw the menu for a steak restaurant upstairs at the new marketplace with $150 entrees he didn't feel so bad. (Hy's left us with leftovers for dinner the next day so we call that a good value for a fabulous dining experience).

 

[jehb2]

Its long overdue for an overhaul. The first time we were there was almost 40 years ago and then it was a true marketplace where you could buy everything. Today almost every vendor sells the same 'made in china' imitation souvenirs (i.e. junk)...the luster is long gone from the place.

The first time I went there about 25 years ago it was awesome. I found the perfect bonnet with a lace bow. I made my husband wear it went he started getting a sunburn at the Kodak Hula Show. I stopped going there years ago. It looked pretty depressing. There's still the swap meet at Aloha Stadium. I haven't been there in a while but I still insist family and friends go there for souvenirs.

 

[jehb2]

Thanks for the photos. Looks like a lovely upscale outdoor mall. I doubt I'll go into it.

 

[waj80831]

The developers absolutely ruined the International Marketplace. We were there in Oct 2016 right after it opened. It was once a great place for the small local vendors but it has turned into a mall that caters to the Japanese. High dollar stores now.

The best place to shop still is the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet on the weekend.

 

[BocaBoy]

The developers absolutely ruined the International Marketplace. We were there in Oct 2016 right after it opened. It was once a great place for the small local vendors but it has turned into a mall that caters to the Japanese. High dollar stores now.

Depends on one's definition of ruined, which is very much in the eyes of the beholder. I have no personal opinion, since I was never at the old or the new International Marketplace, but a swap meet has absolutely no attraction for me.

 

[clifffaith]

There is a bus that does Alhoha Stadium on swap meet days (I think Wed. and one or both weekend days), and includes dropping you off at Pearl Harbor when you are done at swap meet and collecting you later. We last did it in Jan 2015. I never liked swap meet as well as Int'l Marketplace, but likely because I'd already been shopping at the marketplace.