These Two New Local Boutiques Make Finding the Perfect Gift Seem Easy

So Fresh, So Green: There’s a new gift shop in Mānoa and a new adorable children’s shop in Ward.

February 5, 2015

Brie Thalmann,

Green Mountain

photos: odeelo dayondon

Surrounded by Mānoa’s lush valley walls, Green Mountain is an apt name for the little gift shop recently opened in a quiet cul-de-sac off of East Mānoa Road. The choice of location is no coincidence. Owner and curator Kyoko Hyodo, now a resident of the neighborhood herself, fell in love with Mānoa’s sleepy, easygoing charm when visiting from Tokyo in 2006. Her merchandise mix serves as an homage to the town’s blend of old and new, modern and rustic.

The shop’s entryway greets you with a set of tandem, waiting room chairs from the ’60s. Above them, floating shelves teem with graphic Baggu totes, Barr-Co. diffusers and sleek S’well water bottles dressed in wood prints. A few paces to the right and you’ve hit the main room. In one corner, a playful, bear-shaped gingham picnic blanket, in another, a nook filled with children’s finds designed to kindle creativity, including DIY bow-and-arrow kits, 3-D sketch pads and stencil sets.

Hyodo’s penchant for vibrant colors and interesting shapes, a nod to her background in art and graphic design, can be seen in watercolor tea towels and floating paper mobiles. She’s also keen on stocking small-batch goods from local craftsmen. One of our favorites, the lovely, all-natural charcoal and Kona coffee soaps from My Mānoa are handmade from scratch right there in the valley.

2819 Kaonawai Place, C2, 200-5795.

Hopscotch

Frequenters of the popular Dolce clothing boutique have been in on a shopping secret for a little while now. The scoop? An array of stylish baby and mom-to-be finds are now just a hop, skip and a jump away. At the tail end of December, Dolce owner Jayne Lee opened Hopscotch, an adorable children’s shop situated just down the hall.

Bright and airy, the store is anchored on one end with a wall of gold polka dots that glimmer like tossed confetti, fitting imagery, considering its contents are all fantastic gifts for life moments worth celebrating—births and birthdays. The assortment ranges from the ultra-cute, think plush mermaid dolls, to the practical, such as Ergobaby ergonomic carriers, to the ingenious, including Bebe Au Lait nursing covers outfitted with open necklines.

Teethers made in the U.S., France and Korea are a shop specialty and include Sophie La Girafe rings and muscle-developing styles in endearing fruit and flower shapes. Like Dolce, Hopscotch also carries a handful of fantastic local lines. Malama Baby’s clever Diaper and Wipes Clutch unfolds into a soft changing pad while Hawai‘i-made Me+U’s blankets and keiki futons juxtapose unbelievably soft fabrics with fun geometric and ikat patterns.

Ward Village, 593-1825.