Kona Bay Hawaii Store

There's a clothing store in Waikiki that specializes in aloha wear inspired by classic films. The ITV4's Milaka McDonough reports the owner of Konabe, Hawaii is keeping his passion for vintage clothing moving forward. On the edge of Waikiki, there's a retro style shop that sells vintage and replica clothing from the 1950s. But don't be surprised if you've never heard of it. The owner of Konabe, Hawaii admits his store was a niche attraction for Japanese visitors before the pandemic. KCQC is a collector of vintage aloha attire and a meticulous reproduction designer who loves the classics. Elbis, Elbis one. This blue Hawaii. Yeah, this one is just original 1953 movie from here to 1990. Yeah, just an actor wear this. But this one is the I made this one. So His store located on Inna Road in Waikiki has been very quiet lately, a direct result of a drop in visitors from Japan. I think 90% Japanese customer. So we got big damage from pandemic. So nobody here. So almost two years. KC let go of all his staff during the pandemic, but kept up with rent. He reopened in February. Everybody gone already. My manager, just part timer, just everybody gone. Only me right now. And point to the shirt. But KC is ready for a comeback and he's brought in a local marketing expert to help. He actually started him with all of this. He fell in love with a look in on big Wednesday, actually. And then he was watching for here from here to eternity. So he got turned on by a lot of that. Mona Wood Sword joined Kona Bay, Hawaii to move the business in a new direction and attract a whole new fan base. We want people to know his story. He makes a fabric in Japan, which was how Aloha shirt started. I don't know if a lot of people know that. The people that came down here to work, they chose And then they started sewing them into more Western style shirts that became our original Aloha shirt. And a fan of history. KC still makes his reproduction designs the old way. They were done with quality, real shell buttons. Everything was made in Hawaii every last detail sold. So he does it exactly the same way. Then as travelers return, KC tells me he feels pretty good about the future. I don't worry in the future. I'm here just every day. So no closing day. You can come to here just everybody happy right now. And moving forward, Kona Bay, Hawaii is launching an online retail site that will begin marketing locally too.