Aloha Tower Marketplace

Many years ago this was a very busy and popular shopping area. Over the years as the business slumped the shops moved out and closed. I understand that the University of Pacific recently took it over and put dorms in the upper level. The plan is to attempt to bring shops and restaurants back into the lower area. I was there in October and there was not much going on and it was an unusual rainy day. There are nice views of the harbor and the dinner cruise ship still operates there. I remember my mother talking about how much she enjoyed shopping here and how nice the Clock Tower was. i think you can still go up to the observation level. Hopefully it will become active again.

2 stars for it visually being a nice place. But it’s basically a campus. Belonging to Hawaii Pacific University. It definitely looked like it use to be a «marketplace.» But it is in fact a ghost town. Hooters is there. And a new Barnes and Noble for HPU. It looks like it use to be a fun place to be at. At the end of the pier, there’s a stage and everything. But there’s like two guards within the place. And maybe 5 people studying in the whole marketplace. In my opinion, it should be renamed to the university. ”Marketplace” makes this place deceiving.

Aloha Tower Marketplace was a once vibrant and fun location in Honolulu. Built in 1994, it used to have many shops and restaurants to cater to the cruise ships. The mall maintained the history of the area with many plaques featuring old pictures and stories of times gone by. Sadly this mall in its first iteration has also gone by. Essentially dead at this time, for years it’s only had Gordon Biersch, Hooters, and the Star of Honolulu dinner cruise offices.
Despite this sad shell, in recent months the property was leased by Hawai’i Pacific University and is being remodeled and given a new lease on life. The upper level that used to have boutiques will now be dorm rooms for the downtown campus. The façade has changed drastically, but it still maintains the same aesthetic. The lower level is being remodeled on a store by store basis and I believe when the Fall semester comes, many of these places will be filled. Just recently opened is HPU’s student bookstore in the form of a nice fresh Barnes & Noble. There are already plans for lots of casual dining opportunities and nightlife.
This is a nostalgic area for me as I remember what is what like about ten years ago. I spend many of my lunches walking around the property or sitting in a shading spot eating a takeout lunch. I cannot wait for new tables and lunch places to sit and eat at the water.
The Marketplace is located off of Nimitz between downtown Honolulu and the harbor. This area offers great views of cargo and cruise ships coming in and out. It’s always sunny and beautiful here. There are many bus lines (mainly Windward bound) that pass right by the mall. Parking is available also, free on Sundays. There are open air bar and restaurant areas and also a stage for outdoor music and events. Bronze hula dancer statues offer picture opportunities, especially those below Aloha Tower. The Tower itself is a historic landmark and free to ascend for its great views of the city and ocean. (Please see my specific review.)
Honolulu Harbor is one of the cleanest in the world, so it’s a great spot to view the various tropical fish that call it home. There are also historic ships around the currently closed Hawai’i Maritime Center, part of the Bishop Museum.
I hope this will become a new hub of activity for residents and tourists alike!

Memories of Aloha Tower Marketplace.
Before my current place of employment I would walk around the Aloha Tower Marketplace and visit the stores to fill up an application to work as a full time employee. Sadly those stores are out of business.
I remember one year when I was working as a seasonal game booth worker for EK Fernandez Shows that there was a carnival held over the weekend on the grounds of Aloha Tower Marketplace. I would handle up to three game booths during the slow period and one booth at night. I would encourage all the little keikis to pop the balloons with the darts. I even remember one little boy who was with his grandpa telling me «Aunty we be right back… we going get something to eat». How sweet and precious that little boy was. I remember a few times that customers who already won a 2 liter of soda would accidentally leave their bottles at my booth and never returned for them. Chee… scored some free bottles of soda. Each night after closing hours of the carnival the employees who worked the games would use one of the vacant store fronts as shelter. Memories of working as a seasonal worker with EK Fernandez Shows.
TheBoat…sadly this service is no longer offered to the Waianae residents who worked in the downtown area or Waikiki. Several mornings after getting off of the graveyard shift at my current place of employment I would take a ride on TheBoat to Honolulu. Wifi was available for individuals who had a computer. Electrical outlets were available in case you needed to charge your cell phone. Snacks and drinks could be purchased on TheBoat as well. Riding on top deck you’ll be able to chat with other individuals as well as watching the dolphins swim alongside of the boat. Riding TheBoat at night a person would experience the cool breeze, city lights, and a beautiful sunset.
On my nights off from work I would like to come to Aloha Tower Marketplace to have dinner at Big Island Restaurant where I would always order their version of a Long Island iced Tea and enjoy a nice size tendered pork chops. I would head on over to Kapono’s to watch the bartender compete against each other in the flair competition. The two head bartenders of Kapono’s would later on work at the Jackie Chan’s Restaurant (current location of Tanako of Tokyo).
Watching the hula dancers perform on the sidelines where the Star of Honolulu was docked for the time being. Sitting on the cement blocks and listening to the live local musicians perform on stage at night. I never had enough money at the time to purchase a ticket to attend the event. LOL.
Memories of Aloha Tower Marketplace.

Closed.
I hear they are making it into part of HPU campus.
I used to work at UoP in the on ground campus just mountain side. It was wonderful going to Aloha Marketplace since so many of the restaurants close further in downtown at night.
There was a few Japanese/​Chinese/​Asian places that I liked trying the different bentos/​plates and take out. Pretty good compared to being in a mall setting– it was better than most mall experiences since the water is so beautiful over there watching boats come and go.
Yeah I miss the Marketplace.
So beautiful on the water.
Hopefully they will do something that helps both the new owners and the communities that enjoyed going there in the past.

Aloha Towers is pretty dead there’s only two restaurants Gordon Biersch and Hooters at the at the center. Pretty much the only time aloha Towers gets busy with customers is when there’s the Star of Honolulu cruise ship docking loading and unloading passengers to and from back to their cars. We all know that Hawaii Pacific University will be occupying most of Aloha Towers and converting the open office spaces and retail spaces into dormitories it will be interesting to see this changes the marketplace.

This place is ENTIRELY closed and boarded up except for Gordon Bersh and Hooters.
I’m tempted to submit this as closed. Look up Hooters and Gordon’s separately as they are really external to the structure anyway.

I think this is a wonderful place for people who live and work in downtown. Easy to get and not crowded. But, yes, if you have to drive, parking is extremely expensive!
Look for city and county parking garages in downtown, like Harbor Court building.

I am giving the marketplace a 1 star so that they open their eyes to the potential that COULD be if they get rid of whatever crap parking company owns the lot right in front, that rips people off and has no heart. If you had decent parking, maybe you would get more business. My full review of the parking lot itself is below.
Dont ever park in the lot by this place! They DONT deserve your money. Yes i didnt have enough cash on hand to pay their extravagant fees for the 4 hours we were there, BUT they should make it clear that they are cash only! I had my credit card ready to go! What is the most ridiculous is that they made us pay for the time it took us to go all the way across town in a freaking cab to go get cash from our house. I repeat, DO NOT EVER park here, its worth the walk or alternative parking fees. Screw you parking lot. You ruined my birthday A holes. Especially you golden toothed parking attendant. Im spreading the word via coconut wireless that you will lose more profit now for this than you would have lost just by letting us give you what we had and moved on with our day. We had $ 7 dollars, and credit cards that don’t allow cash withdrawls. It’s not like I only offered you 50 cents, WTF guys.

I am giving this place 3 stars because of the sheer potential. However, walking through here is depressing. It’s an esthetically pleasing establishment, and it’s a great location right on the water. But the lack of shops makes the place seem abandoned. You can walk around and get a feeling of what it was like when it was full and busy, and sadness sets in because you realize the place deserves so much more. Outside of Gordon Biersch and Hooters, there is 3 or 4 shops and that’s it. The upstairs is so empty, the escalators are actually closed off.
We’ve only been on Oahu for a little over a year. I can’t say for sure what ATM was like before, but as I mentioned before, if you walk around you can kind of get a sense of it. I don’t know why it’s so vacant or if there are plans to somehow revitalize it. But someone should, somehow. Oahu already lost one iconic spot (International Marketplace), let’s not lose another.

I haven’t been here in YEARS. I think the last time was for a concert at the Waterfront but that all seems like ages ago! Most of the shops look abandoned now but we came here during the height of Christmas shopping season to look for something at Star Apparel and literally saw no one else there. The worst part was when Star Apparel didn’t have what we were looking for, we couldn’t even get a refund on our parking even though we were there for less than 10 minutes.
I remember seeing a news story that HPU had bought out the building to repurpose it for their school. I hope this is true because this place is just depressing. In reality, this should be a one star review but I added another one just for nostalgic purposes.

An absolute shell of its past. During three years I have watched this shopping center sink from a full two levels of unique shops and decent restaurants to two restaurants and a parking lot.
The only places here currently are Gordon Biersch and Hooters. Now, the GB is my favorite of all time, but that doesn’t mean Aloha tower is any good. If you are considering going here for some shopping because you heard or read about Aloha Tower in your Oahu tourist literature, you need to stop right now and find something else to do. This entire center is being repurposed, and that purpose is not shopping.
Unless you are dining at GB or heading out on a little dinner cruise ship, there is NO reason to be here.

It’s hard to believe that this used to be such a popular place to hang out with live
Music at the pier bar, rodeo cantina, don ho’s and big island steak house. Hmm did I just age myself? LOL
Many store fronts are empty and most of the foot traffic is due to a dinner cruise, Hooters or Gordon Biersch.
I hope they can revitalize this place and I hear rumors about HPU dorms being built in this area. Maybe that’ll help with the foot traffic.

After reading a few reviews about this place, i have to agree with everyone else. This place aint the same anymore. It’s pretty much dead and a ghost town during the day. The food court which at one point (mid/​late 90’s) was booming, it was like ala moana’s food court with a constant flow of people. But now it’s no more. As for the shops, there is quite a few nice stores but i usually come here for the star apparel store. Back in the day, they had a lazer tag arena/​arcade room over here, who remembers that?
Well, now, majority of the stores from before either closed down, moved off property or relocated into smaller spaces. The entire second floor is empty.
If you have the time, check out the observation deck. It’s located on the very top (10^th floor) of the tower. The view is immaculate! It over looks everything. Also, check out the Museum. It’s located on the koko head side of the property.
During the night, it gets packed in here. There’s Hooters and other bars/​clubs that keeps this place booming at night. It can get crazy when there’s a concert here.
Overall, this place now, once was, is no more. It’s pretty sad when you think about it.

I don’t get this place. I know it’s supposed to be mall-​like, but it doesn’t work. We got there at around 5 on a weekday, and most every shop was closed! Plus, it had rained earlier, and the floors were precariously slippery. As in, we almost took a few headers walking down the aisles slippery.
We heard from the guy who ran the chocolate shop that a lot of places were closing up their doors for good. It seems a little sad — it’s a great space, but the execution is just all wrong.
I hope that someone with a good vision comes through to save this place, or to re-​imagine it and make it shine. Because as it is now, there’s just no draw. And it’s in such a great location — something has to be done!

The reviews are true. There isn’t much here at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Over half of the stores are closed down. The other half are stores you wouldn’t be interested in shopping at. :(
There are restaurants here. like Hooters and I’m thinking it’s what’s keeping the Marketplace going. I had higher hopes for this place.
BTW, the hostess at Hooters was very nice.

It’s so sad to see so many low ratings for this marketplace located smack waterfront at the Honolulu Harbor. There is so much potential for this beautiful marketplace, yet business here continuously declines. Unlike other failing marketplaces and shopping centers, the architecture and layout is not to blame, but the shops and restaurants currently that currently set up shop in it. It’s a weird mix of surf, furniture, wedding and touristy shops sprinkled with a few restaurants throughout it. I think they need to change up the place and add in some big well known popular restaurants such as The Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen and PF Changs, along with some high end restaurants and better stores to draw in more crowds.
Many times that we have came here we only come to dine at Gordon Biersch then head out immediately afterwards. We may have spent a buck or two at Starbucks, but that’s about it. Definitely not worth our time to browse through the many overpriced little shops just for a validation.

There is so much potential here at this marketplace. The current shops are quite touristy, and none usually catch my interest enough to stop in. I usually just come here for the dining/​drinking experiences (Gordon Biersch and Hooters). The view of Honolul harbor is great from many spots on the piers, so I figure it would be a great place for higher scale restaurants to open up. Parking is ok. The small lot hear the entrance of the marketplace is pretty tight, so be cautious if you drive a large car or truck. The more spacious parking lot is a short walk past the Hawaii Maritime Museum.
With such a unique location and view I would think that this place could really become something awesome, but as it stands now, it needs a lot of work to bring life into the place. Hopefully one day that will happen.

Que the crickets chirping, the tumbleweeds blowing across the halls from the sea breezes, and of course the spiderwebs doting the corner and you will understand how slow the Aloha Tower Marketplace is. It ultimately is a hodgepodge of knick knack tourist shops, national food chair restaurants, and ultimately the lone standout: Chai’s Island Bistro.
The marketplace features some of the best views of Honolulu Harbor and that view can be had from a number of the restaurants that remain at the complex. Other than that… that’s where the good pretty much ends. Bathrooms which function but are a tad dirty and lacking paper towels isn’t a good sign, nor is the fact that there is more empty space than filled shops.
Parking can be a struggle depending on when you go. Note: the Irwin Park lot which fronts the center isn’t valet and you can pull in there if you just pass the valet area. Make sure you get your ticket validated other wise you could be in for a hefty parking bill.

Well, I don’t have much to offer in terms of a «review» as there isn’t much to say about this place.
Self parking or valet is available for a fee, so make sure to get your parking ticket validated at the store or restaurant you’re visiting. The bathrooms are located on the 2^nd floor for those of you who are wondering where they’re located. There are 2 bank machines, 1 for BOH and another for FHB located on the ground floor.
Other than that, there really isn’t much to do here in terms of shopping since the shops located here cater mostly to tourists. And quite frankly, I honestly don’t know how shops survive here because when I was here one afternoon meeting a friend, there was hardly anyone, tourists or locals, around at all.
Bottom line: Don’t come here if you’re looking to do any kind of shopping.