Where to buy Hawaiian jewelry on Hawaiʻi Island

On Hawaiʻi Island, the main places to buy Hawaiian jewelry are Aliʻi Drive in Kailua-Kona, the upland town of Waimea, downtown Hilo, the art gallery at Volcano, and the resort shopping centers on the Kohala Coast. The island has its own makers: our directory includes a Waimea family jeweler that hand-engraves Hawaiian heirloom pieces and a Kailua-Kona jeweler described as casting and setting its work in the store. The island is large, and its shopping towns are hours apart, so plan by side of the island.

How shopping for jewelry on Hawaiʻi Island differs

Our directory has fewer listings on Hawaiʻi Island than on Oʻahu or Maui, and they are spread over a much larger island. Kona and the Kohala resorts are on the dry west side; Hilo and Volcano are on the east. Few visitors shop both sides in one day, so decide where you’ll be when you order and when you’ll collect.

The island’s jewelry is closely tied to its own events. Lehua Jewelers in Waimea has made the Miss Aloha Hula award bracelet for the Merrie Monarch Festival since 2013, and Big Island Jewelers in Kailua-Kona has long been the official jeweler of the Ironman World Championship. We mention these as facts from their listings, not as recommendations; the directory table below lists every Hawaiʻi Island business we’ve found, plus the two companies with stores on several islands, which appear on every island page.

Where to shop on Hawaiʻi Island

Kailua-Kona

Aliʻi Drive is the waterfront main street of historic Kailua Village, lined with shops and restaurants near Huliheʻe Palace and Kailua Pier. Big Island Jewelers, a family-run jeweler on Aliʻi Drive since 1983, makes custom pieces, island pendants and wedding rings. Souvenir and resort-wear shops share the same stretch, so ask about origin wherever you buy.

Aliʻi Drive is part of the Ironman World Championship course and closes to traffic on race day, usually in October. If your trip overlaps, check the date.

Waimea

Waimea (also called Kamuela) is an upland ranch town between Kona and Hilo, with a shopping center and a small number of galleries. Lehua Jewelers, family-owned since 1985, makes hand-engraved Hawaiian heirloom jewelry with hand-cut enamel lettering, and takes custom work.

Hilo

Downtown Hilo faces the bay. The Hilo Farmers Market, at Mamo Street and Kamehameha Avenue, is busiest on Wednesdays and Saturdays and sells crafts, including koa wood items, alongside produce and flowers. Ask craft vendors who made a piece and from what.

Each spring, the Merrie Monarch Festival brings an official craft fair to Hilo’s Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium and the neighboring buildings. In 2025 it ran Wednesday to Saturday with more than 150 artisans and merchants, and jewelry was one of its main categories. Some vendors take only cash. Unofficial craft fairs run in Hilo the same week.

Volcano

The Volcano Art Center is a nonprofit gallery in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, near the Kīlauea Visitor Center, selling work by Hawaiʻi artists, including Niʻihau shell jewelry, koa pieces and other handmade jewelry. It also sells online and has a second campus in Volcano Village. West Hawaii Today has reported an annual open-studio tour by Volcano Village artists over Thanksgiving weekend.

If you’re buying Niʻihau shell, read our Niʻihau shell jewelry guide first.

Kohala resorts

At Waikoloa Beach Resort, Kings’ Shops and Queens’ MarketPlace have resort boutiques, galleries and jewelry stores, including Hawaiian jewelry boutiques. Resort stores often carry both local and imported lines, so ask about each piece.

Made on the island or imported: how to tell

Hawaiʻi law (HRS §486-119) allows a “made in Hawaii” label only where at least 51 percent of the wholesale value was added in the state. Being sold on Hawaiʻi Island doesn’t make a piece island-made. Ask:

• Where was this made, and by whom?
• Was the engraving cut by hand, and where?
• What karat is it, and what does it weigh?

Our guides to made-in-Hawaiʻi jewelry and hand-engraved and machine-engraved jewelry explain what to look for. For prices, see the survey below and our price guide. In the October 2026 survey, 14k gold rings ran from about $290 to about $4,000.

Timing: engraving and custom work while you visit

Custom work and hand engraving take time, and the island’s distances add more. If you order in Kona and are flying out of Hilo, or the other way round, ask the shop about shipping before you pay. Order early in your trip, get a promised date, and ask what happens if it slips. Our guide to engraving before your flight has more.

Before you go

• Plan by side. Kona and Kohala on one day, Hilo and Volcano on another.
• Check event dates. Merrie Monarch week in Hilo is busy; Ironman day closes Aliʻi Drive.
• Bring cash for fairs. Some craft-fair vendors don’t take cards.
• Get details on the receipt. Karat, weight, maker and where it was made.