What Changed at Waikoloa Beach Resort This Year: A Local's Update on Queens', Kings', and the Summer Calendar
July 16, 2026
July 16, 2026
If you live along this stretch of the Kohala Coast, your weekend loop probably runs Kings' Shops for coffee, Queens' MarketPlace for groceries, A-Bay for the afternoon. That loop has quietly inverted this year. Kings' is mid-renovation for its 35th anniversary in 2026, and Queens' has absorbed six new tenants since September, with three more on the way. The center of gravity has shifted across Waikoloa Beach Drive.
That is the news worth knowing before you plan the next dinner with out-of-town family or send a guest over to grab breakfast on their own. Here is what actually opened, what is coming, and where the anchors still hold.
The leasing pace at Queens' has been unusual for a resort center this size. Alexander & Baldwin, which owns and operates the shopping center, added a run of new tenants across the fall of 2025 and lined up several more for the first quarter of 2026.
Recent openings:
Coming in early 2026:
That is a lot of change in a compact footprint. Matt Schull, a leasing manager at Alexander & Baldwin, described the pace as "especially strong, driven by both local entrepreneurs and national brands looking to establish a presence on Hawai'i Island." For residents, the practical effect is that Queens' now covers more of the daily loop than it did a year ago. If a friend visits and forgot their fins, you no longer send them to Kona. If someone wants a doughnut before the drive to Hilo, you now have one on this side of the highway.
The other half of the story is why Queens' had room to grow into the moment. Kings' Shops, the 71,000-square-foot lakeside center anchored by Tiffany & Co., lululemon, Tori Richard, and Roy's Waikoloa Bar & Grill, has been under an active renovation since late summer 2025. Kings' opened in 1991 as part of Waikoloa Beach Resort and hits 35 years in 2026, and the work is timed to that milestone.
General manager Lynn Rostau framed the intent plainly, calling Kings' "a gathering place for the community and visitors alike." The renovation is staged so retailers and restaurants stay open through construction, which matches what you have probably seen on the ground: the center is fully accessible, but the visual is scaffolding and hoarding rather than palm-lined promenade. That is the moment we are in.
The daily anchors have not moved. Roy Yamaguchi's miso-glazed butterfish has been on the menu at Roy's Waikoloa since the location opened, and it is still there. Foster's Kitchen, A-Bay's Island Grill, Original Big Island Shave Ice Co., and Island Fish & Chips are all operating on normal hours. The Kings' Shops farmers market and the weekly live entertainment schedule have continued through the construction phasing.
What is missing during renovation is the ambient reason to linger. That is the piece that has redirected casual foot traffic across the street.
The other reason to know the current geography of the resort is that the July 4 rhythm splits between the two centers, and the split matters if you have kids or guests in tow.
Kings' Shops is still hosting the Great Waikoloa Rubber Duckie Race on July 4, running 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 250 Waikoloa Beach Drive, with thousands of numbered rubber ducks racing along the lakeside course. Proceeds benefit the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawai'i. Games, contests, and an awards ceremony fill out the day. It is the same event you remember, staged around active construction.
Queens' MarketPlace runs its 4th of July Extravaganza from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with live music, keiki activities, face painting, giveaways, sidewalk sales, and market vendors. With the new tenants live, the sidewalk-sale portion has more to browse than it did last summer.
One thing to set expectations on for anyone new to the resort: the Waikoloa Bowl fireworks display over Queens' Gardens, which historically closed out the day before 2018, is not returning in 2026. Plan the evening around dinner and sunset instead.
For the athletically inclined, the resort's summer bookends are the Big Island Chocolate Festival at Waikoloa Beach Marriott (April 23 to 25, 2026) and the Big Island Film Festival with independent films, workshops, and outdoor screenings at Waikoloa Beach Resort (May 23 to 27, 2026). Both draw locals as much as visitors.
The renovation phase is a good excuse to reintroduce yourself to the restaurants that have been quietly holding down the resort for years. When guests ask where to go, this is the honest short list.
Sunset side, at Hilton Waikoloa Village: Kamuela Provision Company under chef Albert Sandoval is still the room for a slow steak-and-seafood dinner with the widest ocean view on this stretch. It opens at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday, reservations recommended. Nui Italian, next door in the same resort, is the newer option for Roman and Neapolitan pizzas and family-style pasta.
Beach side, at A-Bay: Lava Lava Beach Club still does what nobody else on the coast does, which is dinner with your feet in the sand at 'Anaeho'omalu Bay. It earned OpenTable national recognition alongside KPC, and both remain the standing recommendation for a first-night dinner with visitors.
At Queens', Kuleana Rum Shack is the flagship experience center of Kuleana Rum Works, built around the 45-acre farm and distillery in North Kohala. If your guests want a drink with a story attached, this is a shorter walk than most of what Kailua-Kona offers.
Put together, the current picture is straightforward. Queens' is where the new energy is: three restaurants added in the last nine months, three more opening in the first quarter, and the anchor grocery run and Regal Waikoloa Luxury Cinemas already there. Kings' is worth visiting for the restaurants and the July 4 duck race, and it will be worth visiting for very different reasons once the renovation wraps and the 35th-anniversary rollout arrives.
If you have been on autopilot for a year, cross the street. The map of the resort you built in your head is out of date.
Weekend routines change faster than most people realize, and the same is true of the market underneath them. If you own at the resort or in one of the surrounding Kohala Coast communities and want a grounded read on how these changes are shaping demand, condo turnover, or rental performance, Hawai'i Development Group lives and works in this footprint. Reach out when you are ready to talk story.
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