A 2015 Lahaina Restoration Foundation guide to help Front Street merchants design signs suitable for the prestigious Historic Districts states: “For any commercial district to maintain its viability, it is essential that the district as a whole delivers a consistently pleasant experience to the visitor. When shoppers are visually and audibly accosted while trying to enjoy the Lahaina Historic Districts, they are less likely to spend money and certainly less likely to return.”

The educational document also cites the Maui County Code on the same issue: “Persons employed by or associated with a business shall not speak to or otherwise communicate with individuals on public property.”

So, County of Maui, why are cosmetics store employees allowed to pester visitors on Lahaina Town’s sidewalks?

Quick web searches show complaints registered with the Hawaii Better Business Bureau, as well as postings by unhappy visitors on TripAdvisor and Yelp.

A California woman wrote, “Harassment at its best. I’ve never seen such obnoxious, harassing sales boys in my life. These employees need to learn how to treat people.”

If police are frequently in town writing tickets for people smoking in Banyan Tree Park, they can walk a little farther and cite these sometimes obnoxious sidewalk hawkers.