Waikiki Christmas Store expanded to Hilton Hawaiian Village

HONOLULU (KHON) — Santa’s Pen, a Hawaii Christmas ornament store, just expanded to its new location at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.

Karen Sotomura, store owner and creator of Santa’s Pen, said they are happy to have opened right ahead of the busy 2021 Christmas holiday season. 

“We are very happy to be here, we have been looking forward to opening up to this location at the Hilton for a couple of years,” said Sotomura. “So, with COVID settling down, we were able to secure a location and open in time for the holiday.”

Sotomura said they opened the Hilton Hawaiian Village location on Nov. 20 but have numerous other store locations.

A few other locations include Waikiki, Lahaina, Pearlridge Center and inside the Pearl Harbor Navy Exchange store. 

“When we are in Waikiki, they are souvenir ornaments. When we go to our local locations, like Pearlridge and the Navy Exchange, that’s for our local customers, so it’s more of a holiday gift,” Sotomura explained.

Sotomura said she is hopeful that the people who choose to stay near the Hilton Hawaiian Village stop by to check out her ornament shop and take home a Christmas memory they can keep forever.

“We are busy all year long because people are coming here to buy the Christmas ornaments as a memento,” added Sotomura.

Sotomura said she is proud of the expansion of her company over the past 36 years.

She said what makes her store so special is most of the ornaments in the store she and her team designed themselves. 

Santa’s pen allows for customers to pick out their favorite ornament and customize it with their name, year and a Christmas message. 

“These ornaments are special because we design everything ourselves, we are a local company of 36 years,” said Sotomura. “We design all of our own merchandise, and anything with a white tag on signifies that it belongs to our company, which is about 85% of the items in this store.”

To check out which store is closest to you, the hours they are open and their social media, click here, Instagram, Facebook.