Chain Me Up, Chain Me Down

I wish it weren't so, but I just LOVE the gigantic bookstores at Waikele, Ward Centre, and Kahala Mall. What's not to love? Huge selection, good prices, great service, and an atmosphere that encourages browsing and taking one's time.

Wal*Mart! Twenty-four hours a day and lots of parking! Tower Records! Open every day of the year! Starbucks! One on every corner! Blockbuster! Lots and lots of copies of new mainstream releases!

Believe me, I want to support local small businesses, and I'm even willing to sacrifice some of the advantages I get from shopping at these national chains, but where can I go?

Do you feel as I do, that a couple of bucks per visit is a small price to pay for the peace of mind that comes with knowing you're helping someone's Auntie Myra stay in business? If so, where do you go? Where do you rent videos? Where do you get a latte? Where do you buy your music? What about clothes or kitchen stuff or books or smoothies or whatever else I'm not thinking of?

And why is it that there's really no such thing as a local, one-of-a-kind fast food restaurant with a drive-through and late hours or a humongous bookstore with two thousand magazines and millions of books, yet three of the four major supermarket chains on Oahu are completely local? Why is there Star Market but no Wong's 24-Hour Three-Acre Department Store? Why didn't some LOCAL businessperson snatch up the Keeaumoku Superblock and put there exactly what Wal-Mart's going to put there, only not Wal-Mart? That Wal-Mart is going to rake in the dough, and everyone knows it--so why couldn't some Aiea or Punahou or Sacred Hearts or Castle grad have done something to get that action?

So yeah. Two questions: Where do you get stuff? Why is all the successful stuff from the mainland?

Comments

I used to get my coffee at Coffee Manoa, Honolulu Chocolate Co. at Manoa, the coffee bar inside McInerny Waikiki and on Kapahulu Ave. until they all went out of business (Hon. Choc. closed their Manoa shop).

Now I go to Hon. Coffee at Ala Moana Ctr. (owners live here) and Dee-Lite at Shirokiya for their awesome Coffee Shake. I rarely go to Starbucks--their shops are nice, but I don't really like their coffee.

I don't buy music (borrow from the library); I hate BB since they've erroneously charged me late fees. I rent videos from the library, Diamond Head Video, or The Movie Museum.

What I'm waiting for is a late-hours OKAZU-YA!

Borders Waikele is a disgrace...how long before they replace those worn-out chairs and decrepit counters in their cafe? Plus the bust-up carpet and dirty bathroom sinks...

I'm a very conflicted man when it comes to chain stores and big box retailers. I root for the little guy, the homegrown enrepreneurs, but I also like WalMart. In fact, I just drove out to Mililani last night for some WalMart shopping. I think I'm the only person in my neighborhood who's thrilled one is opening in town - on my street, no less.

Wrongheaded or not, I rationalize my ultimate shopping decisions on a capitalist core. If businesses, small or not, are to survive, they must compete on service or price. The survival of City Mill is one example. I also know I'm being gouged silly at Lex Brodie's, but my service guy there is too helpful for me to want to save a dollar somewhere else. If you do it right, the arrival of WalMart or Walgreens (when, oh when will someone give Longs a run for its money?) shouldn't be a threat at all.

The fact of the matter is, many times I've gone out of my way to spend my buck at a local business, and found their level of service and/or prices to be outright hostile to customers. At my last job, I had a $12,000 job out for bid, and every single one of the potential vendors acted like they were doing me a favor by responding. If they had enough business to stay afloat, it seemed to me, it just wasn't worth actual work to do any better.

Part of it, I think, is overall we're (speaking broadly, as an economy) too used to abusing and wringing the hell out of tourists. Restaurants, stores, and contractors get away with a hell of a lot of crap here that would never fly anywhere else. But they don't need to focus on front-line quality, because money is money and a big chunk of our island's "consumers" will never come back again.

Oh, but, boo on Blockbuster. (Neflix!) And on Tower Records. (Technological alternative that must not be named!)

You know, Hollywood Video was thinking of coming down. What ever happened to that? And I have heard nothing but good things concerning Netflix. I must try that some day!

When I crave music, I usually try to head to Jelly's first. Although it's smack dab in the middle between home and work, it's still a hassle to get there. So instead, I end up at Borders (surprising that I find what I'm looking for) or the less costly Circuit City.

I like the Cafe Mocha at Borders. As for general coffee drinking, I don't mind chilling at Zippy's (since I drink coffee mainly after a splurge on alcohol).

As for other stuff, it's all about convenience and service to me. If a local business offers what I need within easy reach and with even just a smile, I'll go for it. However, mostly I just head to giant mainland chain stores.

I've been trying to find a nice local bookstore, but haven't found one. Yet, I don't think I've tried too hard.

have you been to the bookstore in Kailua?

aureservoir: No, I have not. Please, do tell if they have a web site or if not, how may I find this place. How's the atmosphere and selection?

Bookends is in the same shopping center as Times Supermarket (across from Starbucks)...600 Kailua Rd., ph. 261-1996; don't know if they have a site, but here's an article about them:
http://starbulletin.com/98/04/15/business/story4.html

In answer to the original post as to why a local firm did not invest in the Keaaumoku superblock to build their own version of a Walmart... the simple fact of the matter no one could. They probably could have built a structure, but to operate a big box retail store takes a lot of buying power to get products at huge discounts from vendors.

Therefore a big box like Walmart with many stores strewn across the nation as well as in Hawaii can afford to order a lot of merchandise at greatly discounted prices and still sell them cheap in Hawaii because of the volume that they can buy and sell.

I know for a fact that one of my friend's who is a manufacturer's rep for a certain line of products will not be able to sell her products to the local retailers neighboring the new Walmart now being built in Honolulu. Why?

The local stores will not want to carry her products because Walmart will be able to buy the same products at a reduced price and undercut the local stores at the retail level. Sad but true.

I live very nearby where the Walmart store is going up, and I am in favor of the store moving into our neighborhood. It will be very convenient and cost effective for me to go there vs, having to go to Walmart in Mililani (which I never do)... Overall I like Walmart's stores better than the nearby K-Mart we already have.

As for supporting the local merchants, I still prefer to go to a store like Mac Made Easy vs. that of the recently arrived Apple store to buy Macintosh products.

I am a long time customer of LavaNet and am happy with their service despite their price being higher than most local providers or even "big box" ISPs such as Roadrunner, AOL or MSN.

Then of course when it comes to food, nothing beats the local plate lunch restaurant when you want to eat something local in a hurry.

Gas... I go to either Tesoro or Lex Brodies.. and yes, I'll vouch for Lex Brodie's good service even though their prices are higher.

Even after Walmart arrives, I will more than likely continue to shop at the local Daiei store, even though they are not locally owned. They've been here a long time and it is a good place to shop for groceries and other hard goods.

For music, I love Jelly's because Norm carries a whole bunch of oldies CDs as well as many other genres.. plus there are good deals in used CDs there and to me buying a used CD from a local vendor such as Jelly's is another way to sock it to the greedy record labels, since they probably don't get a cut of a used CD that I buy. The only thing I don't like about Jelly's is that it is a bit too far away for me to go there on at least a weekly basis. A used to go to Jelly's a lot when they were at the good ol' 404 Piikoi location, now occupied by the giant tower housing among other things, KHON TV 2.

I'm buying more and more stuff from online stores; kitchen items/Vornado fan purchased from Amazon.com--fan was cheaper than Longs and there were gift cert. incentives with minimum purchase (plus free shipping).

I bought a flatware set at Target.com and saw a very similar product at Williams-Sonoma ($24.99 vs. $82).

I generally buy used when I can, for various reasons. For books and music, I used to practically live at Jelly's, both way back when they were at 404 Piikoi and later at Market City in Kapahulu(up the street from the excellent women's consignment clothing store which closed a few years ago, Consigned Designs, where I used to buy much of my wardrobe, along with another consignment store next to Ward Farmer's Market. There was another excellent used bookstore on Merchant St., The Book Cellar, which I was very sad to find closed when I went home for the holidays last year. My favorite local bookstore now(since Book Cellar pau) is probably Rainbow Books on University Av., despite its small size and chaotic organization.

Ah, The Book Cellar. How I did love that place, especially in its original, much larger version. Now I buy most of my books from Cheapo at Puck's Alley, or get them from the "honor collection" at the State Library. An unusual source is also the used selection at Shirokiya.

But if there is something particular I want, either book or CD, yep, I head to Border's at Ward.

Most of my shopping is based more on where I can get what I want for the lowest price. I'm happy if it's locally-owned but that is rare.

As much as possible I try to buy things from a store verus going through mail order.

hey, guys...I don't have a blog, so I can't start a thread! Could someone start a thread about using the word Aloha...I want to start a discussion. Thanks...

You wisely mentioned your concern for keeping someone's Auntie Myra in business if you shop local--so, your thinking about the local employees and businesswomen/men? Have you also thought about wanting to protect our local people from HAVING to work for the large corporations? Employees of US Continental Companies often have raw deals and are not only extremely underpaid, but also have poor benifits and few have job security. When I am weak and I shop cheap, I think about the fact that I'm not only Not supporting a local business, but I am supporting a business that is creating jobs with little to offer my neighbors and family. It's a tough call when times are tight and I need to consider my budget, but also a community I often feel detached from.

Someone mentioned a bookstore in Kailua--that would be Bookends and it's great. I don't think you'll find a price diffence between most of their books and the big guys in town and while Bookends won't offer the many big sales and coupons that the others can, they have great service. They also have a surprisingly great selection despight there size AND when they special order a book, it'll take less time (if available) to get to the store than if the big names were to order it.

On that note, I'll add that I enjoy large bookstores space they offer to sit with coffee and browse their books or just study.

Happying shopping.

I remember when K-Mart first opened. Our family took one hour just to find a parking spot! It was pure mayhem. Look at K-Mart now. I always wondered, where did the residents of Hawaii buy computers before Computer City came to town? There wasn't much of a selection back then. I could only think of three places: Radio Shack, NEX/BX, and Costco. Imagine having no big box companies and no internet!

I remember, too, when KMart opened--traffic jams and everyone was buying a full-length mirror for some reason!We've never bought a computer at a B&M...always have ordered online--with coupons you can get a good deal.

THIS MESSAGE IS STRICTLY FOR LEX. MY WIFE WON ONE OF YOUR PROMO SURFBOARDS FROM CONSOLIDATED THEATRES ALONG WITH JON B.MAR. THE QUESTION IS SHOULD WE RIDE IT AND SHARE SO MUCH ALOHA WITH IT, OR HANG IT ON THE WALL?

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