Death Store of Haiku

Grand Opening of the Death Store in Haiku, a storefront for Doorway Into Light, a nonprofit providing resources for death and dying.  Ram Dass is speaking deep in the depths of the store, but it's so crowded, there is standing room only.

Death - not a subject for idle conversation.  Although we may see death portrayed in movies and cartoons, it's a topic that makes most people a little uneasy. 


Enter Doorway Into Light, an innovative nonprofit providing resources for compassionate dying, grieving, and memorial services. Doorway Into Light has staged several events through the years, including movie screenings, discussion groups, and silent auction fundraisers, to make death not such a taboo subject. The Death Store is perhaps the first store in the world to showcase items and services helpful for funerals and the dying.  

The Grand Opening of the Death Store was so packed, that DH and I stopped by the following Saturday because we wanted to see what was inside. We found lots of coffins, decorated funeral urns, and a lending library of books on death and grieving. Bodhi, the director of Doorway Into Light, sat by the entrance behind a table with fundraising mugs for sale. He mentioned that the organization did the first sea burial in Hawaii in 50 years, which entailed hiring a boat and captain, taking the boat at least three miles from land, and releasing the weighted body in a wooden box into the water. It gives me tingles and goose bumps just thinking about it. 

Coffins are available to purchase at The Death Store. The store is only open right now on Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm at the Pauwela Cannery in Haiku. 


Just fyi, sometimes the above picture of handmade coffins does not always show up on this blog, perhaps because of the content.  If the pic does not load up correctly,  please click here:  handmade Maui coffins. I just tested the link. 

Resources like sample power of attorneys, Five Wishes (a useful document), medical power s of attorney, information on funerals, grieving, and caretaking. 

The Death Mobile, a hearse owned by the nonprofit Doorway Into Light.