Those in need of a custom flower bouquet on Kauai-brides-to-be, lovestruck high school boys-are known to hit the Pua Bar. Despite its name, the island's one-year-old boutique bloom shop is BYOB (build your own bouquet), though depending on the occasion, you can also bring your own bridesmaids or-why not?-best man.
The shop, a cozy white-walled cottage on the historic Kilohana Plantation, drips with flowers, fresh and dried. A cloud of baby's breath hangs over Pua Bar co-founder Tasha Rames as she points out the bouquet builder's palette: anthuriums from Hawaii Island, a protea from Maui ("the big pink one"), ranunculus ("the pink guys") and foxtail ("the big tall funky one").
Rames, who was born and raised on Kauai, met her business partner, Haylee Kam, in flight attendant school for Hawaiian Airlines six years ago. Though they have reduced their flying hours lately, their extensive traveling inspired the Pua Bar concept ("pua" is Hawaiian for flower). "We both love flowers," Rames says. "We have been to a bunch of flower markets in Seattle, Japan, Sydney, where you can just go buy flowers and take cute pictures with them. We saw a need for something like that here on Kauai." When the pandemic hit, the duo saw it as an opportunity to build the business..
Kam can trace the shop's roots to her grandmother's puakenikeni tree on Kauai's north shore. Ever since she was a girl, Kam has plucked the tree's pastel orange blossoms and strung them in her grandmother's yard. Neighborhood kids used to gather at the house, where Kam's grandmother taught them to make lei, "like a language you just learn," Kam says. "Growing up, we never showed up anywhere empty-handed. The first thing that my grandmother would have us do is go outside, pick flowers and make lei."
Consider Kam fluent now: For a recent parade the mayor of Kauai needed florals, and so did his horse. For the beast of burden, Kam, along with renowned lei maker Kathy Butler, made her largest lei yet. "It was eighty pounds," she says. "It was mental. It took us two days and a whole team of people to put it together." Such is the kuleana (responsibility) of the island's new local lei shop, conveniently close to where everybody on the island goes: "We're right across the street from Costco," Kam says with a grin.
