Spring is here and it heralds a busy season at the Wave Shoppe

Spring is here and it heralds a busy season at the Wave Shoppe.

I just love the first day of spring! Soon I will be planting a little garden outside our office and every year as I am planning it the conversation with the Hawaiian shirt King goes like this. “I cannot wait to plant my garden this year” says Peggy owner of the best Hawaiian apparel store in San Diego. Charles pipes in with “well don’t forget you need to water and weed the garden because I am too busy to do it”.

So I plant the garden and after the first week lose interest in it and of course Charles starts to water and then weed. Then he also brings in the vegetables, takes them home, cleans them and cooks them up.  Not sure why he bothers to tell me he won’t water and weed because we both know it is a task that will fall on him.

He is right about one thing we really are very, very busy because spring heralds the start of our busy season. Right now companies are looking for event shirts for the summer and we do supply a huge selection of event shirts that are used for company picnics, conventions, and company shirts. The fact that we make our shirts in the U.S.A. means we get a lot of orders from small business and unions and those companies that feel it is important to buy U.S.A. made products.

So while Charles will be busy in the garden, he is also available to help our wonderful potential customers who are looking for wholesale shirts for their event. You can reach him at 760-294-1765.

 

Boy Scouts of America troop visiting Hawaii wearing Hawaiian shirts purchased in bulk from Wave Shoppe



 

 

To Tuck or Not To Tuck – that is the question

Sometimes my customers ask me the craziest questions and todays’ customer wins the award. This gentleman comes into the store and bellows dramatically from the door “To Tuck or Not To Tuck! That is my question!

I have to say I was amused by his question as well as his dramatic flair but he really wanted to know so I kept my response to my standard answer of “there is not steadfast rule”.

 

I have been asked this question before and the answer is that we work really hard to make comfortable, colorful Hawaiian shirts here at the Wave Shoppe and we encourage our customers to wear their shirts a little loose and hanging down instead of tucking them in. 

 

After all a loose fitting shirt allows for air to flow through and keeps you cool and comfortable I did say at the end of our conversation the only thing we discourage you to do is wear one of our shirts and pair them with black crew socks and any type of sandals because that is just wrong on so many levels!!!!

So if you are reading this blog post and you wear sandals and black socks, instead of getting all dignified and letting me know why it ok in your opinion. I say to you “ Bruddah just get some Slippahs! 

 

Here is another article on how to wear a Hawaiian shirt (with more pictures of course).

 

 

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH Parrots!

Parrots! I seem to be surrounded by them at work and at home. At the Wave Shoppe Hawaiian Shirt store in Escondido we sell Hawaiian shirts, muumuus, tropical dresses, tropical signs and we have some really cool, colorful parrot wind chimes among other things. The parrot wind chime sound is a tinkling of wood and really quite soothing and that is about the only soothing parrot I have ever heard.  

For some unknown reason I allowed my husband to talk me into getting an Umbrella Cockatoo. Anyone who knows me knows that I have always had a fear of birds. This stemmed from being attacked as a child by a giant macaw when I was 5 years old. I simply walked by this birds’ cage while playing with my friend and this bird jumped me and while he didn’t do any physical damage I was pretty scared and simply preferred to stay away from birds. Don’t get me wrong when I saw birds I did not freak out and run or anything embarrassing like that I just preferred to stay away from them especially parrots.

One day my husband told me he had found a reputable breeder who had a baby cockatoo and could we just go look at it? He said a baby cockatoo would be small and getting it small would enable me to grow comfortable with it by the time it was full grown so we headed out to just “look”. I didn’t find out until later that Charles had been to the bank the day before and funnily enough he had just the right amount of cash to buy that parrot in his wallet. By the way we adopted the bird and named him Coco and he was not small.


Baby Cockatoos are really big about the size of 6 canaries all together and they are expensive!!!!! Lifetime commitment as they live longer than humans do. They are messy, destructive, annoying attention grabbers but when they are loving and sweet they make up for all the negatives. My parrot sits on my shoulder and runs his claw through my hair giving me what my husband terms “googly eyes” he says he will have a problem with the bird when it begins to sing me Barry White songs!

So for all you parrot lovers out there. We invite you to hop in your car and take a drive to Downtown Escondido to come check out our wooden parrot chimes!

The chimes are only available in-store but they are really colorful and look good in patio areas, bars and poolside.

On the left is an actual picture of one of the parrot chimes we offer in the showroom.

And of course we have lots of Hawaiian shirts with parrots in an array of colors. One of our most popular parrot shirts are these orange Hawaiian shirts with parrots and we sell this particular shirt year round.

The Dreaded Wedding Invitation



The wedding invitation said for all guests to dress in “Aloha Attire” as the wedding will take place on the beach and the elderly couple who visited my store last Saturday begged for advice on what to wear. “Aloha Attire” simply means that the men should wear a Hawaiian shirt and the women should wear a Hawaiian muumuu dress! Nothing to panic about, but some people are really concerned that they dress to the occasion. The wedding was the next day and this couple had been all over San Diego County looking for something tropical to wear and found us after their granddaughter did a Google search.  

Now I do know a little something about casual beach and Hawaiian weddings. I have probably worked with about 25 brides in the last 4 years and have become accustom to helping the bride and groom dress those who are in the wedding ceremony including bridesmaids, groomsmen, ring bearers, father and mother of the bride and groom etc. These events are typically casual, but most of the brides want a color coordinated look so that the wedding pictures come out looking great instead of too crazy!

My female customer was in her 70’s and after trying on quite a lot of clothing decided on the blue Hawaiian mid-calf muumuu we stock here at the Wave Shoppe showroom located in downtown Escondido on Kalmia Street. She was about 5’1 so the mid-calf muumuu fit her perfectly ending well above the ankle, so she didn’t have to worry about tripping on the hem like she would have if she would have worn our traditional long muumuu. I asked her what shoes she was pairing with it and when she said heels I discouraged her from that choice and suggested a pair of sandals that she could easily slip off and get rid of the sand that a beach wedding surely would bring.

Now the husband had been sitting in a chair patiently waiting for his wife, but he was getting bored. I know that look as he started to look like my Charles right before he bolts out of a store. So I suggested our white/blue Hawaiian shirt and he tried it on and it looks good with the blue Hawaiian mid-calf muumuu as the colors are complimentary. So voila they bought those items and exited the store very excited that they would look like a couple, but not match exactly.

I really do enjoy helping customers find what looks best on them and if you come to the store and don’t know what to choose just ask me. Beware; I am brutally honest, but you will look your best in the clothing I help you find.  

 

Peggy