Overall, nice Sarongs, and a good lunch down the way, but what a non-aloha experience. Those two need to lighten up.
Don't believe the sarong stories, and WOW is there infighting within this small group of stores. I walked in an found some very nice sarongs. I saw some Monstera Deliciosa (a plant) and some Bamboo pattered sarongs that were very nice. The woman who owns there store told me they were hand made there and the artists were all local. She also said she cut the tags off of them so that customers wouldn't have to.
Have lots of locally made items. Hours open in photo
We went here because of the beautiful sarongs that were on display. We ended up having a wonderful chat with the store owner and also bought a very vibrant sarong to take back home with us to Seattle.
I walked back to the other store, a little bit put out by this new information, and asked the proprietor about this. She barely acknowledged my question and immediately began slandering the woman down the way, saying "that woman just hates me, did that woman from the end of the shops tell you that?! She is just the worst person I have ever met in my life!" She went on and on about how much she hates the other woman, and I asked her several times to get back my question about the origin of the sarongs and the artists. She ended up giving me fragmented stories about how the sarongs are actually made overseas (can't remember the country) and that the artists are actually over there most of the time too, but she thinks they spend some time in Hawaii too... A lot of hot air it sounds like. I don't know what to believe but she was sure misleading the first time. I told her she should work her differences out so that customers would be shielded from both her lies and the petty squabbling between shop owners who are not even in competition with each other.
Wife bought a $50 Sarong there. Supposedly it's hand-painted by local artist. She went on and on about some story about tennis shoes. Something about this sarong will outlast your tennis shoes lol. it wont bleed in the wash cause of the quality. she had a weird personality/ Must be a hippie thing.
I walked just down the way (north about 70 yards) and had lunch in a store where there were a bunch of wood carvings. The woman there saw that I had Sarongs when I was talking to my traveling companions about them. She asked if the tags were cut, I replied yes. She chuckled and said mockingly, "all local artists, right?" I grinned, "Yes, that's what she said." She told me that the woman imports them in large numbers and they're a huge ripoff, and she lies to customers about the artists' whereabouts.
I walked back to the woodworking + restaurant combo shop and told her that the woman had been quite unhappy with my questions about the origins of the cloth. She snickered. I also told her that I felt it was important for them to work out their differences because overall the whole customer experience between the two shops was pretty negative, and it might be best to simply let the woman keep lying. That's when things got ugly. The woman almost jumped across the counter and raised her voice to a volume I was embarrassed to have initiated and screeched "THAT WOMAN IS INTOLERABLE!!! She is IMPOSSIBLE to talk to, there is NOT an AGREEABLE BONE IN HER BODY!!" I asked her to lower her voice, think of her conduct while in public, and seek a mediator for the differences which were clearly caused by some deeper issues on both sides.
Wonderful, helpful shopkeeper! Beautiful selection of locally hand-panted sarongs.
Purple Eye is a US Store based in Honomu, Hawaii. Purple Eye is located at 28-1690 Old Mamalahoa Hwy, Honomu, HI 96728, USA.
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