A gift shop selling Big Island-grown coffee, macadamia nuts and more held a soft opening Saturday, right on time for stocking-stuffer shopping.
Big Island Trading Co., located at the site of the former Jackson Volvo dealership at 1672 Kamehameha Ave., near Ken’s House of Pancakes, opens fully its retail gift shop, as well as an adjoining coffee shop, late next month. The shops are the brainchildren of businessman Ed Olson.
The shops will feature “products that we grow, primarily macadamia nuts and coffee,” Olson said. “OK Farms (Rainbow Falls Coffee) is one of the coffees, which incidentally was just rated No. 2 in the state out of all the coffees in this fine coffee state. But we also represent Ka‘u Coffee Mill, which had three of the coffees in the top 10 at the international conference earlier this year this January. So we have lots of good coffees. We also have all of the products of the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Co., which is also a company owned by the Edmund C. Olson Trust, so it’s products from our properties.”
Olson said the store is looking for additional Big Island products from other suppliers.
“We are the Big Island Trading Co. and we want to have the Big Island’s products, such as artists and crafters’ products, things like that.”
Kimberly Ciez, Big Island Trading Co.’s manager, said the store’s hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m., seven days a week.
In addition to the coffee, mac nuts and other foodstuffs, the store will carry other products manufactured on the Big Island such as T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags and ornaments, Ciez said.
Olson said that a grand opening is planned when the coffee shop, which will carry only Hilo and Ka‘u coffees, brews its first cup for the public, sometime around Jan. 20.
“It’ll be a nice coffee shop,” he said. “It’ll have outdoor seating for 80 to 90 people and feature all our coffees that we grow ourselves.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.