Expectant Mothers Parking a New Perk at Queen Kaʻahumanu Center

Expectant mothers parking sign at the back entrance to the Women’s Macy’s department store in Kahului. Photo by Wendy Osher.

Pregnant women can take advantage of new parking stalls designated for expectant moms at the Queen Kaʻahumanu Shopping Center in Kahului.

The stalls are still being painted and prepped for use, but we stumbled across one in the back parking lot of the Macy’s department store near the juniors clothing entrance last week.

QKC managers tell us there will be a total of four stalls in three locations for expectant mothers: two at the main entrance near Starbucks, adjacent to the handicapped spaces; one at the Fernando’s/Sears entrance at the East end of the center; and the aforementioned Macy’s location.

“This isn’t something we had to do,” said QKC Marketing Manager Todd Vines in an email communication to Maui Now. “This is something we wanted to do,” he said.

“I’m a father. Pretty much all of us on the management team have children. Parents have a hard enough job as it is. If Queen Kaʻahumanu Center can offer an amenity like this to make things just a little easier for expecting mothers, I think we have an obligation to do so,” said Vines.

Vines said he’s not aware of anywhere else on Maui that has the stalls, and hopes to see it catch on at other centers, but said, “whether it does or not, we’re proud to introduce this for our island ʻohana.”

While this may be a first for many on Maui, similar spaces started popping up at shopping centers in Southern California and other mainland locations more than a decade ago.

Maui resident and mommy-to-be, Caroline Neubauer said a few spaces for this purpose, “is a wonderful and thoughtful idea.”

“Health and activity with less risk and stress, especially when loading up the car with purchases is a good idea,” she said.