Pearl Factory – Hawaii’s Original Pearl-in-the-Oyster

Super fun experience! A younger guy with dark hair helped me and he made the whole pearl opening experience a blast! I felt the setting was a bit expensive, but $ 200 lair, I have a pretty pearl necklace. Because I purchased a setting, I got to open another oyster, which was great!

It started off fun, but then the sales lady pushed us to get it set in and told us it was $ 79 for a 14k gold cage. That seemed reasonable so we were for it. She said since you got it set in you get another one be free. So we were like may as well get another one. We get the bill and it’s $ 203! Now she says the that cage is $ 179 and my ENTIRE FAMILY heard $ 79. She refused to accept her obvious mistake. We refused to pay that, but we still got charged for the second «free» pearl. This place sucks and uses dated sales practices to swindle people. Should’ve read the reviews before. But my mom really wanted to try it. Way to ruin mother’s day pearl factory…

Lady drilled a hole into the pearl without asking us. She ruined a perfect pearl that we still had to pay for! DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!

Aloha and shout out to my favorite store in Maui for over 40yrs! Very helpful pleasant and made my pearl experience outstanding! Thanks ladies!!!

My second day on Maui, I saw a mother of pearl pendant and earrings at the pearl factory at the Whaler’s Village. I really liked it, but didn’t want to spend all my money during my first shopping trip. I looked at a lot of other jewelry, over the week, but I still kept thinking about the set I saw at the Pearl Factory.
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On our last day on the island, we were shopping on Front St. We came across a Pearl Factory, and I found the same mother of pearl set I saw earlier in the week. The Sa les lady said because I was spending $ 100 that I could open an oyster for free. She had my husband and I tap on the oyster with the wood sticks 3 times, and told us to say Aloha. She rang the bell and she proceeded to carefully pry open the oyster. It was taking her awhile, and I said it must be a big oyster. It was actually very nice size and slightly pink, which meant beauty. She put the pearl in my hand and my husbands hand over mine. She told us to close our eyes and said to make a wish. The little pearl ceremony was sweet and romantic.
She asked if she could drill a hole so it could be mounted, and I said ok. She mounted it on a couple settings, but I didn’t want to spend too much since I was buying the other jewelry. She tried to sell me a chain too, but I told her I already have 2. I told her she was a really good sales person and she smiled. Of course they are going to try and upsell… it’s their job.
I love love love my purchase from that store, and every time I wear ii, it will remind me of my exotic trip to the island of Maui. When I wear the necklace where I picked the oyster, I find myself touching the pearl and having very fond memories of my trip. People here at home love hearing the story how I found this pearl in an oyster. They think that the necklace is so prettying love story I how o got it.
To all the haters below, do your research how pearls are really made. The pearl factory explains the process. If you cheap souvenirs, go to the ABC store.

I really enjoy the experience. Last night, After I got the pearl from the oyster I was shown some expensive settings but I wasn’t planning on spending a ton of $ so I asked for sterling silver. She showed me a pretty sterling silver ring setting and I spent about $ 60 total. I was going to buy a $ 230 white gold and diamond ring setting and then she said she would throw in another pearl for free but I just decided on the sterling silver one because I liked the way it looked better anyways. The sales lady was nice and not too pushy. The only reason why I’m not giving 5 stars is because the settings are kinda expensive.

Loved it, so much fun to do. I got a silver, blue and my husband Got a white one. buy also night 3 more to take home to family. You don’t have to buy the settings if you don’t want to.

Agree that this is a set up.
The pearls must be placed in the dead oyster. Dyed, matched sets, rare dyed colors, always round. So you are buying a mystery pearl.
If you love the pearl deal then take the pearl home for setting.
The switching of pearls should be reported to Consumer Affairs by the
previous reporter.

went to this place twice… first time we opened a pearl to find a large pink one… then the lady took it off to clean it and returned with a smaller non pink pearl. A dirty switch! So next time, a year later, went back to the shop and opened a pearl to find a nice large one… I took it in my hand and the lady was adamant that she clean the pearl… NO NO I said I like it dirty… she became visibly upset… this time I didn’t let it out of my hand. She was so disgusted with me she walked off and had a junior staff member finalize the $ 15 transaction. Deceptive is a mild word for this kind of trickery… Can’t wait to go back and do the same thing next time! and I would never buy a setting from this place!

This whole place cons tourists.
You get to open a oyster for $ 15 and get a pearl. Immediately after opening, they will ask for which setting you want (rather then asking you if you WANT to put it in a setting). I asked for what was the cheapest, and immediately the man behind the counter pointed out his white gold $ 100 settings. I repeated my question and this time asked if there were any sterling silver settings. He simply ignored me and kept suggesting other $ 100 or $ 150 white gold settings. Absolutely infuriating.
When he finally presented a cheap sterling silver $ 50, I almost refused. He then finally offered slightly cheaper sterling silver settings that you don’t even see under the glass!
Short note: Don’t walk into this store with your family. These people are parasites that will do anything to prey on your wallet.

This place is a scam. Like the other reviewers said, you pay $ 15 to open a pearl in an oyster. Then they start persuading you to buy the setting, then it’s the chain. Very distasteful tactics. We ended up with a $ 30 bill only because I was adamant. I originally just said no setting, and when she was about to ring us up, she offered another one that was reasonable I guess. Just know what your bottom line is and don’t let them con you into buying something. Deceptive. Otherwise don’t walk into this store.

Eh…
The concept is interesting — pick out an oyster, open it and find a pearl for under $ 20 and keep the pearl. If you don’t find a pearl, you don’t pay. However, it’s obviously set up because all of the pearls looked to be non-​natural pearls (perfect spheres). They feed the oysters a little plastic pellet which pretty much ensures that every oyster will make a pearl (or maybe they feed the oysters an already formed pearl, who knows?). Plus, what are you going to do with a pearl just by itself? The store offers you a few jewelry settings and that’s really where they make their money. It’s just a gimmicky place.
And I could see straight through their used car salesman attitude because the one girl commented on how she loved my pearl bracelet and I said, «Uh, it’s not real,» and she tried to shower me with compliments, saying, «Wow, I do NOT believe that. It totally looks real! And pearls look really great with your skin tone.» LIAR! It was a plastic bead bracelet and you could see the seams on each bead! Anyway, that was enough to make me leave the store.

Does anyone remember grab bags from when they were a kid? You know, pay $ 5 for a brown paper bag and then after you pay you open it and take whatever random contents are inside?
That’s the feeling I get from the Pearl Factory. You open up a pearl (for about $ 15) and you get to keep the pearl. Typically, you’ll want to set it in jewelery but be VERY careful. Prices are not listed so it’s easy to spend a LOT of money in this store. The first one I picked was a huge white pearl with a pink sheen that I put in a flower charm. Also, if you set your pearl in jewelry they will offer for you to open another oyster for free. After finding a blue/​silver pearl I also wanted to get it set and picked a pineapple charm with little diamonds. Grand total: $ 700 freaking dollars.
We justified it by saying it was our honeymoon but holy crap that is one expensive souvenir.