Banyan Tree Books

Banyan Tree Books takes its name from the magnificent banyan tree planted in Lahaina's courthouse square in 1873, and like that tree, the store has grown deep roots in the community while reaching outward to embrace the wider world of Pacific literature and scholarship. Located on historic Front Street, once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom and a center of the Pacific whaling industry, the store occupies a building that has stood through more than a century of Maui history. The Hawaiian language section is one of the most extensive in the state, offering texts for learners at every level alongside scholarly works on the revitalization of olelo Hawaii. The Pacific Island literature collection spans Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia, reflecting the vast oceanic world of which Hawaii is a part. The whaling history shelf tells the story of Lahaina's years as the whaling capital of the Pacific, with logbooks, narratives, and historical analyses. The store hosts monthly Hawaiian language reading circles and has become a vital resource for the cultural renaissance underway on Maui.