So this hip jeans and casual clothes chain is pitching a tent in Waikiki. Why am I enthused? Well, a couple of reasons. First, I love New York. Stay with me here, please. One of my favorite things about New York are the quirky shops which seem to breed in the shadow of hipper than thou trendy chains that remain off the map for much of the U.S. Heartland. I'm talking Triple 5 Soul, Brooklyn Industries, etc. Waikiki is sorely lacking in hip shopping. It has expensive shopping -- Louis Vuitton and that ilk. It has local shopping -- Cinnamon Girl, Blue Ginger, Nohea Galleries.

And Waikiki has some quasi hip shopping -- puma, Diesel, etc. But not enough for my book. So here's the logic. The more mid-to-small sized hip chains we see moving in, the hipper the area gets. The hipper the area gets, the more likely that smaller, local companies -- like Fighting Eel, for example -- might be able to park it Waikiki. And that's good, because we need to encourage those folks and give them an international platform. I guess I'm going off on a tangent, but shopping is a crucial part of any destinations attraction not only for visitors but for locals -- and bringing the locals back will be a key to the long-term success of Waikiki. All IMHO, of course.

—Alex, 02/28/07