Our Story
da Shop: books + curiosities is part of Bess Press, a local eduction and trade publisher.
To learn more, visit BessPress.com.
About da Shop
How a bookstore is born.
"Our parent company, Bess Press, has been publishing books for Hawaiʻi and Oceania since 1979. After much discussion internally and externally with our customers about how to fulfill the lack of independent, neighborhood bookstores in Honolulu, we decided to create our own.
Our goal was to custom design a space and to offer a curated experience that would appeal to readers of all ages and interests. da Shop: books + curiosities began in 2018 as a celebration of storytelling.
Reading is so personal, but having a space and place to come into and interact with real, tangible books is sacred. This was one of our main inspirations for opening da Shop."
-- David DeLuca, da Shop co-owner
HONOLULU Magazine
03.22.18 | Kaimukī Gets da Shop, a New Kind of Bookstore and Event Space. Read It Here>>
The New York Times
05.18.22 | 36 Hours in Honolulu (featuring da Shop). Read It Here >>
Book Take Out
03.2020 | During the early days of the Pandemic, we started a Book Take Out program that is still a popular service our customers love!
An Online Shop is Born
03.2020 | Can you believe there was a time when you couldn't shop online for books at dashophnl.com? Our online store opened in 2020 when customers couldn't visit our brick and mortar.
Sharing Our Recs
10.2020 | da Shop started curating a monthly article with HONOLULU Magazine with bookseller favorites, community picks, and suggested reading lists.
Hauʻoli Lā Hānau, da Shop!
03.09.24 | In March 2024, we celebrated da Shopʻs 6th birthday.
Meet the Team
David
Co-Owner
Read with David
Mariko
Bookseller
Lainey
Bookseller
Read with Lainey
Alyssa
Bookseller
Megan
Bookseller
Lani
Event Coordinator
Read with Lani
Bess Press Team
As we grew...
The shop has changed over time, but our Hawaiʻi and Oceania titles have been the foundation of our shop since we opened our doors. Swipe the image to see how our inventory has grown!
Before
After