State of vending: Kauai

[candygirl]

Hi all

We've been here about a week and wherever we go I'm on the lookout for machines. Thought it would be fun to "report" what I've seen.

The big surprise to me was the nine double head machines near the entrance to K-Mart (none at WalMart). That's right, eighteen heads in a row, three with gumballs (don't look like dubble bubble), the rest pan candy. They are NWs with "folz" imprinted on the candy chute. Just behind this was a near-empty beaver spiral with gumballs.

In K-Mart's snack area was a rack with toys on top, candy and gumballs on the bottom--all pan candy, no MMs or PMMs. I haven't seen that anywhere yet, and a lot of the candy I'm not familiar with. The machines were NW.

I have seen a few small vendor double heads in local stores again with pan candy and gumballs. These all had local charity decals. One double head was outside a grocery store (!) and seemed to be doing okay with runts and another hard candy I didn't recognize.

The majority of machines I've seen have been NWs, followed by Beaver spirals, and some Oaks. All machines were well-worn and the Oak mechs were very loose (I jiggled the handles). So in this part of Hawaii the big three are dominant, and vendor use toys, gumballs, and hard candy. I saw a few cranes and a tatoo machine also.

It's fun to check these out tho I do get some funny looks from people who watch me circle the machines, jiggle the mechs and mumble to myself!

Barb

[vendboy]

That's cool Barb. How did you end up there on the Islands?

[candygirl]

We try to vacation there around our anniversary. It's a beautiful island and we love it.

[T BIRD]

Very kewl Barb! Its unbelievable that Folz' name is on that island. That guy was just so so huge in vending. Have fun and have a safe trip home sista.