The University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Entrepreneur Club held a grand opening Monday for its student-led store, Bring Home Aloha, at the Ilikai Hotel & Suites.

Bring Home Aloha sells local crafts and UH merchandise. The pop-up store, built in collaboration with UH’s Apparel Product Design & Merchandising students, is open to the public everyday from 2 to 8 p.m. The store features brands such as Honolulu Soap Company, Inu Inu, Island Heritage, Kimi Werner Art, Kissy Hawaii, Little Craft Shack, Mahina Beams, One Breath Photography, Polynesian Soul, Rainbowtique, Sweets Fanatic, University of Hawaii Press and Watermark Publishing.

“Bring Home Aloha is giving students hands-on experience in planning and executing a startup company in one of the major hospitality markets in the work,” says Susan Yamada, director of the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) at the UH Shidler College of Business. “It’s showing them what it takes to be an entrepreneur.”

Store manager Scott Wada says just opening Bring Home Aloha has shown students the scope of what it takes to run a business. “Most of us in the Entrepreneurs Club want to start our own business, and this is helping us gain the confidence and knowledge to establish one in the future,” he says.

Students were involved in the entire startup process, from completing corporation paperwork to securing financing and merchandising inventory. The retail space is being provided by the Ilikai Hotel & Suites. For more information about Bring Home Aloha, visit www.bringhomealoha.com.