Mea Makamae moves into the renovated Royal Hawaiian hotel this week as a small new retail store that strives to provide a portal to Hawaiian history and culture.

It is another joint venture of Maile Meyer and a hui of Native Hawaiian partners. "It's a window to the Hawaiian culture," Meyer said.

The store itself is tiny — just 200 square feet — so 60 percent of what's displayed will change every six weeks, according to partner Ke Kai Kealoha.

Meyer said the prices will range from $20 to $30 to $10,000 for items sold in the shop. During January and February, Mea Makamae will feature "Symbols of Royalty" including feather kahili, lei and other items made by Paulette Kahalepuna, Gladys Brede, Kaha'i Topolinsky and Kuahiwi Lorenzo.

The feather lei are intricately sewn into hatbands in a fading art that is historic but not ancient. Preserving and perpetuating made-in-Hawai'i crafts remains a key mission of the venture.

Meyer points to the back of a band handcrafted by Gladys Brede, showing the tiny, intricate stitches that pull together bright blue peacock feathers into a striking design.

Bands like these sell for $900 to $1,200 for those who can find them. One particularly rare lei comes from a pheasant raised at Parker Ranch on the Big Island and that sells for $4,000, Kealoha said.

Meyer said the store will link people who can appreciate and afford the rare items with the artisans who create them.

"Mea Makamae can help us sustain our kumu and practitioners by providing them with a steady source of income," she said.

Kealoha, who grew up along the Kahala-to-Waikiki shoreline, looks forward to nurturing "a sense of aloha and a sense of being Hawaiian." And that can be a challenge in Waikiki — a modern resort that sometimes gets caught up in the one-size-fits-somebody commercialism of many warm-weather vacations spots.

And tourism surveys routinely come back with the conviction that visitors come here and return here when they experience that authentic taste of culture that they can't find elsewhere.

"You don't have to be Hawaiian to have that," Kealoha said. "It comes from the heart. I think the sincerity is coming back."

Their other partners are architect Rob Iopa and cultural advocate/musician/former lawmaker Peter Apo. Meyer, of Na Mea Hawai'i/Native Books, handles product development, working with Hawaiian artisans to produce made in Hawai'i items. Kealoha, who has worked in management and marketing, brings her expertise in logistics and running the operation.

"Mea Makamae is an offering of Hawaiian things in a receptive setting," Apo said. "Our belief is that visitors to the Royal will have a natural curiosity and a genuine interest in Hawaiian culture. It's a starting point for a deeper experience with Hawai'i."

The store will offer weekly classes and monthly cultural talks. "We're a cultural clearing house to on-site classes and cultural experiences as well as Hawaiian events in the community," Iopa said.

"And best of all, we are presenting the highest quality mea makamae, or cultural treasures, available in Hawai'i today."

But they also are creating other cultural experiences that may include a 6 a.m. walk on the beach.

And a small specialized tour will be offered to hotel guests from the historic perspective of a guide portraying the viewpoint of someone who lived during the time of the Hawaiian nation.

Meyer remains optimistic about the new venture and grateful to be in the historic Royal Hawaiian, which will handle marketing for the store and will deliver a guest list of experienced, well-heeled travelers with an interest in authentic culture.

"The hotel is a destination," Meyer said.

Meyer still is part of Mana Hawaii, the second-floor retail project in the Waikiki Beach Walk development. That business brought together five business entities that worked to offer cultural programs as well as products in the 1,600 square-foot space.

With a turbulent economy and a tourism slump, Mana Hawaii has struggled to stay alive, Meyer said. Only three of the five partners remain in the venture and they have turned part of the space into a studio for hula, for childcare and other programs.

"We're trying to retool it to make it work," Meyer said. She said the store lacked foot traffic and has been working to hang on with the expectation that the area will thrive as the economy recovers.

Another element of Mea Makamae will be working with Martin & MacArthur to present framed pieces from the Konia Collection, a vast storehouse of thousands of historic documents related to Hawaiian ali'i. They include official correspondence, land claims, personal letters and an assortment of historic photographs, maps and engravings amassed over the past 30 years by owner Michael Taum.

"Personal Adornment" will be the focus for the end of February through March. Cultural items will include the one-of-a-kind Ni'ihau shell lei, carved fish hooks with complex lashings as well as wiliwili seed, kupe'e and other uniquely Hawaiian lei. The special programming will include historic Ni'ihau shell lei from private collections as well as on-site shell repairs, authentications and appraisals.