Hygienic Store

You want to go back way back talking about old school. Stopped by this afternoon to get a drink before heading back to town. Got a cold drink plus a spam musubi. Their famous for their spam musubi and can't go wrong it's quick and easy and you can eat it while you drive . I remember coming to this small wooden convenience store when I was in my teens . Also for locals heading around the island it's normally a good quick stop to buy ice and load up on your favorite adult beverage. The Hygienic store still looks the same they sell ice, liquor, cold drinks , chips , candy , spam musubi, some household product also canned goods . Support local and be safe

This "old school" landmark is like Barstow Station in California. Barstow Station is that place along the drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas where travelers get snacks and souvenirs. It's a great pit stop with a variety of vendors and a clean restroom.Hygienic Store is almost like Barstow Station because it's between Honolulu and the North Shore. That's where the similarities end.The difference between this bright orange building and Barstow Station is that Hygienic Store is small, relatively cluttered, has no air conditioning, and has no restroom. It's a one stop shop for beverages, snacks, pet food, laundry detergent, personal care items, and barbecue supplies. I guess it's more like a neighborhood mom and pops convenience store. The main purpose for my most recent visit here was to get a Spam Musubi. This is no ordinary Local Kine Grinds. This exceptional musubi was pointed out to me by my friend's daughter, Wendy, who graduated from culinary school. She said she stops by often for this Hawaiian delicacy. She's right! This spam musubi has great rice to spam ratio and has the right firmness (doesn't fall apart) and flavor (not too sweet)! Winner!Although Spam Musubi is just a bed of rice, a slice of spam sauteed in teriyaki sauce, and a strip of seaweed wrapper, it has a lot of meaning and history. Back in the day, students from Hilo started bringing musubi to school for lunch and it spread all over Hawaii to become the phenomenon it is!So, next time you come to the windward side of Oahu, check out the Hygenic Store. Experience authentic, casual, local ambiance. Get a Spam Musubi with your beverage and snacks!

Small store off the main road. You'll find your essentials here such as soda, chips, beer, ice cream and candy. Personable staff. Sometimes you'll find musubi and pickled mango for sale.

No way, I'm the first person to get to write this review? Awesome!If you didn't grow up on O'ahu, you'll probably think this is a strange sounding name for a store. I still can't figure out why they called it that... the name makes it sound like they must specialize in "sanitary" stuff" like toilet paper or tampons, which never seemed to be the case. Maybe I'll never know why they chose the name... maybe that's part of the draw to hygienic store - it's got a little mystery behind it (OK I just looked up "hygienic" in the dictionary and as the stated definition is "conducive to good health; healthful; sanitary." Hm... I guess beer, Icees candy and chips must be conducive to good health! Arrrright!)If you did grow up here, you'll know Hygienic Store is a historic landmark - like Matsumoto's Shave Ice (I'm surprised they don't have t-shirts for sale). Nothing super fancy about this place, just a good old fashioned store to get a the aforementioned "health staples" plus a few groceries, etc.. It's like a slightly bus' up version of 7-11, minus the fluorescent lighting, with a more down-home country feel. It is at a great location - right where Kahekili Hwy. and Kamehameha Hwy. converge. This place was a big part of my childhood, cause it's where I'd have to wait for the school bus to take me on the 30 minute drive to Kamehameha while I was in Elementary School. I don't even remember if the store was open that early in the AM, when my Mom, sisters and I would screech into the parking lot, trying to get to Mr. Hubbard's school bus in time. But after school, I did buy a good amount of candy here, (I remember getting Pop Rocks from this place!). There are lots of little places around Hygienic store that have opened up and closed down in the last 3 decades or so, and Hygienic store is like the ONE thing around that area that's still standing! I saw they just painted it bright orange and it actually looks pretty cool. Long live Hygienic Store.Me Ke Aloha Ku'u Home 'O Kahalu'u!

Da kine store, hybolic Hygenic store brah, can get spam musubi, beer, cheeps, soda, all kine ono grinds brah. They geev em, go get em. Thumbs up, shaka!

I remember coming here as a child for luaus as our family originally owned the original Hygienic Store. My dad would spend his childhood summer's here catching 'o'opu in the mountain stream and ride on horseback. Yup, the song "Ku'u Home O Kahalu'u" is based on what my dad (and then young Jerry Santos) would do with their friends and cousins.I don't remember much, but I clearly recall catching the bus with my grandpa from Kuliouou to Kahalu'u. Family from across the island would come and celebrate. They'd hire Chinese dragons to bless the place and I'd be freaked out and hide under the long Kraft paper-lined luau tables while my grandma would laugh and try to coax me to sitting in her lap (but she'd always call the dragon near if I did!)The store closed early during these celebrations, but the lua (bathroom) was inside. In the dark I'd be taken to use it, but not before passing the candy stand near the cashier. I so desperately wanted to take my heart's content of candy and just run and hide and eat it all by myself. On our way out, my grandpa must of saw the tempted look in my eyes as we passed the candy stand once more. He allowed me to take just one item of my choice and I hesitated first (the place is closed, are we stealing, I thought), then snatched a box of grape ZotZ or roll of Violets (something purple I know). Before we left, he reached into his pocket and put the 15 cents onto the dark counter for the morning cashier. This place still doesn't look like much, but what it does represent, especially for our family, are loaded memories of catching 'o'opu, riding horseback, family luaus, Chinese dragons and candy stands. Wonderful flashbacks of the times I spent with my grandpa. Me kealoha ku'u home o Kahalu'u.#Yelp 365: 109/365

I have literally passed by this place for decades. It's one of those landmark places that you use to describe to someone where to go and then you drive past it. Used to be white and now it's a bright orange, so you can't miss it since it's at the crossroads between Kaneohe and Kahaluu. I was hoping they would have lots of homemade specialty items like bento, sandwiches, good stuff to pick up for a picnic not found in most stores. No luck. Basic corner store with snacks, drinks, alcohol....a few spam musubi on the counter to remind you you're in Hawaii! Lots of neighborhood folks around getting snacks. Back in 1907 there was a dairy in the area--the Hygenic Dairy used to stretch all through Ahuimanu Valley and then in 1950 Simon Chong took over the company store. They ran the store for decades before leasing it to another family. Four stars because of its a landmark. Can't find too many places nowadays that have been around this long. Slice of Hawaii history!

I live in Kahaluu, so I drive by the Hygienic Store all the time and regularly stop there. My son begs to go in for a treat all the time. Everyone's friendly to me and my kids. I love that they took down all the cigarette and beer ads, so it's just awesome orange walls that make a perfect backdrop for that kid-and-popsicle photo.A bit of history my friend shared: the store was once part of a dairy called the Hygienic Dairy. After the dairy closed, the store changed its name to the Hygienic Store.

5 stars for pure nostalgia. Growing up a block away, I have been going to the hygienic store since I was about 6. While my shopping list has changed over the years (from candy and Icee's as a kid, to chips and soda as a teen, and eventually alcohol and cigarettes later in life), not much about the store has changed. Even when Texaco, became Arco, and eventually 7-11, The hygienic store kept everything the way it was, and still stands to this day. I will always stop by the Hygienic store first, before going across to 7-11.

It's an old school store and a nice stop for simple stuff like drinks and snacks when you take a drive up to the North shore. Nothing fancy about it, but will do the job when you have cravings and thirsty as heck.