Naalehu will lose its only grocery store today after Island Market shuts its doors.
Naalehu will lose its only grocery store today after Island Market shuts its doors.
The store at 95-5657 Mamalahoa Highway is closing after 18 years in business. The next closest grocery stores to the town are in Ocean View and Pahala.
The Naalehu Wiki-Wiki Mart, owned by the same parent company, Sure Save Super Market, will remain open.
Carl Okuyama, Sure Save president, said he could no longer afford to keep Island Market open, noting he has used his own retirement savings to try to sustain it.
“We’re just very sorry we couldn’t continue,” he told the Tribune-Herald. “We share the same sadness with the community.”
The store will close for the final time at 7 p.m. today. Remaining items are discounted 50 percent. An equipment auction was hosted Thursday.
The company announced the closure Feb. 13 after notifying the store’s 12 employees.
Okuyama said employees are being given the opportunity to transfer to Wiki-Wiki Marts in Naalehu and Hilo.
The company’s announcement noted one employee, Vernon Takaki, who had worked at Island Market for 18 years, in particular.
“He is very dependable and we hope to keep him with the company,” Okuyama said in a written statement.
“We have very good employees at the store and they will be surely missed and (we) wish them much aloha. Hopefully, as one door closes, another door will open.”
Okuyama said other food businesses have considered opening at the Island Market location, but he referred to property owners 300 Corp. for more information. A phone message left with the company Thursday wasn’t immediately returned.
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.