Naalehu Island Market (Hawaii 24/7 photo special by Kara Nelson)

Kara Nelson | Special to Hawaii 24/7

The Naalehu community has been buzzing with rumors that the small town’s only grocery store, Island Market, was going out of business.

Residents were wondering if the rumors were true and questioned who would continue running the store when close-out sales began Feb. 16.

An equipment liquidation auction is set for 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 26 and the store’s final day of sales is Friday, Feb. 27.

The news stunned the town’s residents and the store’s current and past employees.

Naalehu resident Pam D. said, “We need a small store. It really would help with last-minute things.”

She mentioned items like milk, eggs and canned goods, and that she can’t go to Ocean View all the time for last-minute items.

“We’re going to miss this Island Market,” she said. “I hope they find someone to take it over.”

Carl Okuyama, president of Island Market’s parent company, Sure Save Ltd., expressed concern that the store’s closure “will create a hardship for the community, especially in providing meat, poultry, fish and produce items.”

Okuyama, who often supported or hosted community events, also said, “I have enjoyed being part of this community. There are many wonderful people in this rural place.”

The property at 95-5657 Mamalahoa Highway is owned by the 300 Corp., a Honolulu-based company associated with the Harry Weinberg trust, and there are food businesses considering opening at Island Market’s location.

Okuyama did not announce specific reasons for the store’s closure but claimed one reason is changing grocery and home-goods buying trends, as well as competition from box stores including Target and Costco and stores such as Longs and Walgreens.

Okuyama, 64, said he has spent much of his retirement savings trying to keep Island Market running but couldn’t continue.

“In our hearts,” he said he and his wife Amy “wanted to continue.”

The store’s 12 employees received the news two weeks ago, as Okuyama “wanted them to be the first to know.”

Employees have the opportunity to transfer to Sure Save’s two Wiki-Wiki Marts in Hilo and Naalehu, with jobs being secured based on seniority and merit. Okuyama said at least three employees have requested a transfer.

The company especially hopes to keep its employee of 18 years, Vernon Tanaka.

“He is very dependable and we hope to keep him with our company,” Okuyama said. “We have very good employees at the store and they will be surely be missed.”

Tanaka, 58, confirmed he has worked in the store under its various ownerships during the last 40 years. In 1975, Tanaka, then 18, began working there when the store was owned by the late Gary Ichino and called Pick N’ Pay.

The store became Food Center under the late Tommie Taguchi’s ownership, and later was Food Fair Supermarket under Glenn Kaneshiro’s ownership.

Finally, it has been Island Market for the last 18 years.

Regarding the store’s closure, Tanaka said, “I was a little shocked because it was a little last minute and short notice.”

Tanaka said he will transfer to work at Naalehu’s Wiki-Wiki Mart.

Island Market’s general manager declined to comment.

Given the small-town atmosphere of Naalehu, some residents were reluctant to voice their feelings unless they were granted anonymity.

“I’m sorry. I won’t pay $7 for Oreo cookies,” said one former customer who asked to be identified as “an anonymous citizen.” The source also expressed concern that prices would increase at the Wiki-Wiki Mart once Island Market closes its doors.

An anonymous 21-year-old resident, who claimed she’ll do her shopping in Hilo or Kona from now on, said, “It’s sad that we are losing the only market but it’s too expensive.”

According to U.S. Census data, Naalehu has a population of 919, Pahala a population of 1,378 and Ocean View a population of 3,611. Naalehu is about 65 miles away from Hilo, about 59 miles from Kona, and about 13 miles away from both Ocean View and Pahala.

Ocean View has two supermarkets, Malama Market and Ocean View Market, and also has Kahuku Mini Mart. Pahala has a small grocery store, Mizuno Superette, and a convenience store, R & G Mini Mart and Laundromat. Wong Yuen Store, a 1914 establishment located in Waiohinu, roughly two miles from Naalehu, also carries limited quantities of canned goods, household supplies, bread and dairy products.

Aside from Island Market, Naalehu has a Wiki-Wiki Mart, Punaluu Bakeshop and Will & Grace Filipino Variety Store.

Wiki-Wiki Mart sells limited quantities of bulk food and home goods. Will & Grace Variety Store, which specializes in Filipino food, also carries limited quantities of fresh produce and fruits, canned goods, household items and eggs. It carries some frozen items, including seafood and meat, but does not carry milk and most other dairy products.

Naalehu also has a farmers market Wednesdays and Saturdays, with available produce. Kuahiwi Ranch, in Ka‘u, also is a vendor at the Wednesday farmers market.

Two former employees of Island Market, current residents of Ocean View, are concerned for the community.

Jim Cunningham, 68, supervisor from 2011-2012, said in a telephone interview, “I don’t know what the ramifications are going to be. A lot of people don’t have transportation down there.”

Cunningham reported that last year, he had two investors and offered to buy Island Market from Okuyama, but Okuyama declined the offer, stating the business was doing well.

Marshall Gluskin, former department manager at Island Market from 2011-2013, noted Naalehu’s “many people that are so impoverished” and Ocean View’s distance from Naalehu in a telephone interview.

Gluskin said he wishes there was a way to find a philanthropist to keep things running.

“I hope we can accomplish something. I’d hate to leave them [the community] out to dry,” he said. “I’m really concerned and I just want the word to get out there so people know what’s going on. That’s really the only grocery store in town.”

Island Market’s meat department manager, Delis Estabilio Sr., a meat cutter and an employee of Sure Save Ltd. for 13 years, also bears trepidation for the Naalehu community.

“I just feel for the people, the workers,” he said. “My prayers and thoughts are with the community.”

“My thing is, when one door closes, another opens,” Estabilio said. “Hopefully someone will come take over, ‘cause the community needs one supermarket like this.”

(A Naalehu native, Kara Nelson is a graduating communication and English double-major at UH-Hilo and a student intern for UH-Hilo Chancellor Donald Straney, writing for his blog UH-Stories. She is a published freelance writer.)