Ming's
Ming’s was founded in the 1940’s by Wook Moon. Before Ming's opened its store much of the jewelry available was sold out of catalogs and Moon hired local people to make jewelry and trained them. Moon is even credited with creating many of the tools he used for the carvings. The business did well and Moon opened in the downtown area of Honolulu, Hawaii near the Fort Street Mall getting business from tourists as well as locals building the business and the brand. By the 1950's business was doing well and Ming's began to expand. By this time they had become a staple in Hawaiian jewelry and featured Asian cultural themes as well. Eventually Ming's opened retail stores not only in Hawaii but in San Francisco and New York as well. The business continued to prosper and shops opened up in Denver, Dallas, Houston, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami, and two in Atlanta. There also were four in Waikiki, and shops at Ala Moana Center, downtown and in Hilo. The rapid expansion caused difficulties in managing all of the shops and Ming's began closing the mainland shops in the 1960s through the 1980s. Even after Moon passed away the business was still doing well in Hawaii as Visitors came on the ocean liners collected Ming's jewelry to take back to the mainland. Then in 1999, in true Wook Moon fashion, without warning or explanations the business decided to close its doors. Word of Ming's closing spread so fast that the owners didn't have a chance to notify longtime shoppers or put out ads.
