While Royal Hawaiian Center has many of the world’s highest-grossing designer brands, more than half of the retail behemoth’s merchants are locally owned and operated.

Some 60 of the center’s 111 merchants are locally owned. These merchants as well as many activities are part of the center’s cultural mandate.

The cultural mandate is part of Kamehameha Schools’ agreement with RHC Property Holdings LLC, an affiliate of banking giant JPMorgan Chase & Co., whose asset arm bought the Royal Hawaiian Center for $696.5 million in June 2014. The local trust, which funds education for Hawaiian children, retained control of the underlying land and kept the center’s cultural mission intact by inserting a cultural requirement into the leasehold deal.

The deal, which went for roughly $2,165 a square foot, hit a high-water mark for retail property in Waikiki. However, local merchants said Los Angeles-based Festival Cos., which has continued to manage the mall, dining and entertainment complex, has worked to help them thrive. There also are more opportunities for cultural practitioners to share their talents and teach visitors about the many ways that Hawaii differs from other sun, sand and surf destinations.

“I have to report cultural benchmarks. They are taking it very seriously, and that’s exciting to me,” said Aaron J. Sala, who joined the center as its cultural director in January after leaving a position as assistant professor of Hawaiian music and ethnomusicology at UH-Manoa.

Malie Kai Chocolates, which occupies a premium ground-floor space in the center, is just one example of the center’s enhanced local commitment. Founded by Nathan Sato and his wife in 2008, the company turns Hawaii-grown cacao from the North Shore into creamy chocolate confections. Sato said the Royal Hawaiian Center helped the company graduate in 2013 from selling exclusively wholesale or at farmers markets to its first storefront. Since then, Sato said, strong sales volume has helped the company expand from a husband-and-wife team to six employees.

“They took a big risk letting us have this space. We are surrounded by international brands, but they had faith in a local company,” Sato said. “We offer something unique. We are the only store in Waikiki specializing in Hawaiian chocolates. You won’t find Hawaiian chocolate in Sydney, Europe and Tokyo.”

That’s why Mariko Ito of Tokyo made a recent visit to the chocolate shop.

“We heard that this chocolate is really delicious,” Ito said. “We want to buy some souvenirs. Back home our friends and family want to try things that are made in Hawaii.”

Sam Shenkus, Festival Cos. marketing director, said the current mix of tenants and improved emphasis on culture completes the vision that Festival has long had for the center. It’s a vision that has allowed some of the biggest designer names in the world to make huge commitments to the center while at the same time creating opportunities for local merchants.

“Island Vintage Coffee is a high-priority space at the end of an escalator. Why would you give coffee a Kalakaua sight line? But in this case his commitment to coffee is superb. He goes to the Big Island twice monthly to visit with local farmers. Those are the type of merchants that Festival Cos. sought out: the committed, passionate ones that want to be the best and push past barriers,” Shenkus said.

At the same time, Sala has sought a mix of cultural practitioners and artisans who can connect to the legacy of King Kamehameha I, who after his conquest of Oahu established a home in Helumoa, the coconut grove where the Royal Hawaiian Center now sits. His great-granddaughter Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, benefactress of Kamehameha Schools, later inherited the land.

“Excellence in Hawaiian performing and visual arts is an important part of our mission,” said Sala, who went to Kamehameha Schools. “We also want to infuse the tangible experience with cultural meaning.”

Sala said he spent his childhood surrounded by visitors because his parents worked in Waikiki. A music career took him to New York for a time, but Sala came back after realizing that Hawaii was home. In the same way, he felt a pull to the Royal Hawaiian Center.

“In many ways I’m still a teacher, I still very much believe that this is my role here to find activities that impart cultural significance,” he said.

To that end Royal Hawaiian Center offers complimentary classes Monday through Friday, and live entertainment Tuesday through Saturday. There are classes in lei making, quilting, hula, ukulele playing and more. Sala said Royal Hawaiian Center will be partnering with Native Hawaiian filmmaker Heather Giugni of Juniroa Productions in the fourth quarter to bring hourlong films, mostly documentaries, to the center.

“We are trying to create experiences that are fun, entertaining and meaningful,” Sala said. “We’re looking at bringing one complimentary film a month that would be shown throughout the week.”

Sala said the center is supporting Native Hawaiian filmmakers, lecturers and presenters while enticing locals to brave the traffic of Waikiki.

Sixth-generation Hawaiian lau hala weaver Bill Keoua Nelsen is one of Sala’s newest additions. Nelsen said he began weaving in earnest in 2006 after realizing that his grandmother Lillian Grace Nelsen was the family’s last living weaver.

“I wanted to preserve the family legacy,” said Nelsen, who still weaves most of his custom artworks and fashion pieces from strips of lau (leaves) that come from the same hala (pandanus) tree his grandmother used.

Teaching free classes three days a week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1 to 2 p.m. offers him another chance to preserve his family’s legacy.

“I love it when the visitors make a lau hala bracelet and get to take a piece of Hawaii home with them,” Nelsen said. “My family has pieces that go back 150 years, so hopefully they will have souvenirs that remind them of the special place that is Hawaii for many years to come.”

Felicia Poon, a repeat visitor from Vancouver, British Columbia, said she took the class for the second time Wednesday because her daughter saw the bracelet that she made and wanted one of her own.

“Opportunities like these are so important. When you travel you want to get the cultural experience,” Poon said. “That’s why you travel. I always try to search out the places where the locals eat and shop. I want to expose my daughter to the real Hawaii.”

Nelsen said he’s proud of Royal Hawaiian Center’s commitment to Hawaiian culture and local mom-and-pop businesses like his own.

“I honestly think the local community is not very aware of what the center offers,” he said. “When we pass on the street, we see the high-end stores. But there are plenty of local stores inside and in the food court.”

Tourists and residents also line up daily to visit Billy Giang’s Pho Factory and Curry Cafe, which opened in the center’s food court in early 2014. Giang said he jumped at the opportunity to get a spot in Waikiki because it helps preserve his own family’s immigrant legacy.

“My dad had a shop at International Market Place until they closed,” Giang said. “I grew up working with him in Waikiki. Now it’s exciting that local businesses can have a home at Royal Hawaiian Center. We have national brands to attract serious shoppers, but we have local merchants to supply the spiritual and cultural connections to Hawaii. All of our stories are part of Waikiki.”

Giang said he and other local merchants are paying it forward by helping support Kamehameha Schools’ mission to educate children of Hawaiian ancestry and give back to the local community.

Jerry Agrusa, professor of travel industry management at Hawaii Pacific University, said he’s pleased to see a recent trend in tourism and travel-related businesses in Hawaii increasing efforts to re-integrate Hawaiian heritage and culture both for employees and visitors. Increased interest in the heritage and cultural aspects of Hawaii provides an opportunity for Hawaii to differentiate itself from all other beach destinations, he said.

“Hawaii’s heritage and culture provides the competitive advantage,” he said. “It also encourages local residents to be more engaged with tourists because they were involved from the beginning in deciding how their culture will be represented.”

If nurtured properly, Agrusa said, heritage and cultural tourism allows the tourist to leave a region with wonderful memories of enjoyment and with a deeper appreciation of the community that has been represented.