ʻUkulele Puapua — Local services in Honolulu

This is the first time I’ve reviewed anything on Google for any reason. That’s how good this place is. I walked in, no expectations to buy anything. I was actually bummed I couldn’t get the ukulele from the Pokémon tournament because people are insane and buy up anything Pokémon related till it’s gone without thinking. Like where are you even gonna put that? You don’t even know how to play it, and there’s no space in your luggage from all the other Pokémon stuff you’re buying and you know it. What are you even gonna learn how to play, the Pokémon theme? Doubt it. Pikachu himself is unimpressed with you and disappointed overall. You’re not the best like no one ever was, stop it. Anyways, sidetracked, apologies. So yeah, I was bummed about that and almost walked out. Then out of nowhere this angel ascended and helped me out, and told me that it’s ok if I don’t get their 6500 dollar option. You don’t have to do that either; they had so many quality and affordable options to pick from. If you don’t know how to play, they got charts and stuff to make it easy to learn. I even got me a case and some cool picks to go along with it for the price I was getting. 120 or so for everything plus it was quality, and you can’t do that anywhere else people. I liked her so much I even squashed a pesky roach that came in uninvited; he wasn’t even there to buy a tiny ukulele, so rude. Despite all that I made my purchase no problem and didn’t walk out completely broke, that was elsewhere, not here. I recommend this place to everyone that reads this, yes even the people who bought too many of the Pikachu ukulele are also welcome here, just know I’m watching you and even Captain Pikachu from the new Pokémon anime told me he’s upset with you, just saying. 10,000 ukuleles out of 10 for this place. If you don’t shop Ukulele PuaPua then you’re a PooPoo. That’s not their slogan at all and they should never use that it’s really bad and I’m sorry you had to see it. I’m gonna go...

The staff are knowlegable and helpful, but the location is small and it’s difficult to move around if you have extra bags or you’re not going in by yourself. The shop is just within the entrance of the Sheraton hotel and it’s a busy area, making it tough to hear the ukes as you play them. (This is a big minus if you’re planning to drop $1k or more on an instrument.)

I must also relate a particularly bad experience I had. When I visited the store around 5pm on a Monday evening, there was a Japanese television production taking place in the store and I couldn’t get in. This was inconvenient for me as I had visited the store the previous day to look at their instruments and I was returning to make my purchase.

It must be said that there was no signage to indicate the temporary closure during the production, and there was no sign or notice on the previous day when I first visited. (I would have planned accordingly with proper notice.) I would have walked right in, but one of the TV handlers stopped me at the door. I don’t know how long the store was closed, but I was outside at least 10 minutes before I asked the handler and he expected the production to take an additional hour or more.

If you shop here I’d recommend checking The Ukulele Store nearby as well. They have almost as much selection (probably 85 or 90% as many instruments) and they carry other items. There’s space to move around and sit if you like, and best of all it’s q-u-i-e-t. You can really hear the ukes when...

Another customer, who can’t speak highly enough about the entire Ukulele PuaPua team! Each online purchase has been seamless thanks to Jessica, Jason and Julie. In fact, my last purchase of an absolutely beautiful Pop’s Pineapple Sundae was a result from a pop-in visit to the store.The original intent of the visit was to thank the folks for the exceptional customer service provided for the previous KoAloha purchases. While there, Julie was kind enough to let me play the three Pop’s Pineapple Sundaes in stock and I fell for the spruce top model. Two weeks later I began the purchase process for the spruce top. During the time from purchase to receiving, both Julie and Jason were kind enough (upon my request) to send me sound samples; they both play so well, which show cased the tone of this wonderful instrument. All that said, I highly recommend Ukulele PuaPua for all your Uke needs: And a special mahalo to Jessica, Jason & Julie for all...