Mom-and-Pop Stores

[scrivener]

What are the mom-and-pop general stores in your neighborhood? Do you stop there? Do you know mom and pop?

I grew up in Waipahu, where there were, of course, several of these stores (none of which remain, alas, unless Nii Superette is still going) but I seldom went there because I lived in a different part of town and when you're a kid, you're not so mobile.

I currently live in Kapalama Heights, where there's one Korean-owned store on Houghtailing called Tomo's, at which I stop quite frequently. I don't think I "know" the owners, but I am recognized when I go in there and there have been times when I've been short a quarter or a dime and they've told me not to sweat it.

There's another, on Lanakila Street, just uphill from the Lanakila / Kuakini Street junction. I don't know what that one's called, but it's considerably larger and has some interesting hot-food items.

My favorite lies just outside my neighborhood, but it's in a place I frequent--John's Grocery ("John's Store") in Puunui. Great shave ice, and really good egg-salad sandwiches. It is a popular after-school hangout for students at three schools (Maemae, Hawaii Baptist, and Academy of the Pacific), not to mention a favorite stopping-place for teachers at these schools who sometimes don't have time to pack lunch. :)

[1stwahine]

:D Ohhhh! What a great question! Our Mom and Pop Stores are "Fuji's" on N. King Street across Kentucky Fried Chicken. The other is on Vineyard Blvd. (don't know the name) but they sell Ono Oven Roasted Chicken, Fresh Corned Beef with Cabbage, Roast Lamb and other Polynesian Foods. The owners are friendly nd know me by face only. At Fuji's, I've known him nearly thirty years. We always joke and talk story even if he is busy. He has ono pork hash and a mean Chlie Dog!

[helen]

Sue's Mini-Mart on the corner of Kanunu and Kaheka streets. It's a small corner place, great for buying cold drinks.

[zztype]

No mom-n-pops in Foster Village, but I frequently stop at B&S Store on School Street and Frog Lane in Nuuanu. Best shave ice on the island, no joke. Absolutely old-style, old Japanese shave ice machine and plantation grandpa make shave ice. And ono boiled peanuts, too!

[pzarquon]

The whole of Mililani is too young (and definitely too overplanned) to have ever been home to a pom-and-pop store. But when I was a kid going to Lunalilo Elementary in Mo`ili`ili, a small patch of little stores was a frequent hang out of mine. I think it was the corner of Waiola and Pumehana streets, kitty corner from the community center. Korean owners, selling lots of candy and cheap plastic toys to kids, and lots of liquor and cigarettes to everyone else. A small Icee was a frequent, favorite treat.

[craigwatanabe]

After I got married my wife and I moved into an apartment in McCully on the corner of Paani and Waiola and of course the M&P store there is the famous Waiola Shave Ice store (Hi Jerry). An actual Mom and Pop store where they lived upstairs above the store itself.

M&P's served a purpose for walk in customers and exist in many of those communities that encourage foot traffic. With today's strip malls and mega malls, foot traffic has been reduced to mall foot traffic. Now you drive to the supermarket or drugstore to get your pantries.

In places like Kalihi, Kaimuki, Kapahulu, Waipahu, Makiki, McCully and other dense-packed communities these stores served those who lived nearby. 7-Eleven stores have become the modern day M&P's but instead of family it's corporations and minimum-wage employees that are running the shops. Same need, different owners.

I would only hope that community developers would design new residential developments to facilitate foot traffic. It was nice to walk out my front door and go around the corner to Wailoa Shave Ice and pick up a gallon of milk or a can of Spam. Now it's a 6-mile drive to the nearest convience store (Wiki Wiki Mart in Orchardland (where I have moved to in Keaau on the Big Island) or a mile drive to Manoa Safeway where I last lived before moving to the Big Island this past May.

When the H-1 bypass was built thru Kaimuki that almost killed off the aura of that community. Same with the Waialae Avenue Viaduct. That reduced the amount of traffic going to the Union 76 gas station (where Blockbusters is now), Jolly Rogers drive in (where Zippy's is now) and Magic Oven (where some veternarian clinic is now). Village Inn (where Tony Roma's is now) was a great coffee shop in the heart of Waialae Kahala until that overpass went up. So was the Waialae Coffee Shop (now Kahala McDonalds), Woolworths Coffee shop later becoming Harvest Inn before Woolworths closed it's doors and is now that mega sports shoe store next to Longs Drugs.

Come to think of it there weren't any M&P's in Kahala. You had to take the HRT green buses with the gillotine(?) windows (keep your hands inside or else the window would come slamming down on your fingers when the bus hit a pothole) to Kaimuki and go to Rainbow Market (and buy Cowboy Matches) or down the street to Kaimuki Sundries or Lau Market where you could buy those wire-slingshots and BB's.

One great store in Kalihi is the Kahili Supermeats where I bought my kids Horlicks Malt Tabs. Still trying to find Sno Caps candy. Kalihi has some great hole in the walls and the good thing is that a lot of it hasn't changed since it's inception as a neighborhood except the neighbors.

It's sad though now a lot of M&P's are owned by immigrants where you can buy drug paraphanalia like those mini butane torches and quarter-size zip loc bags for those crackheads, and porno magazines, cd's and liquor as a minor.

Oh man someone needs to start two threads on hard to find candy and those good old Coffee Shops.

[Miulang]

Still trying to find Sno Caps candy.

Eh Craig, I can get by mail order. Used to be made by Blumenthal Chocolate, bought out by Nestle's in 1984. You like some?

Miulang

[pzarquon]

Craig, that was a wonderful post. It's neat imagining what Honolulu was like before the freeway tore through. Those odd 'aborted' streets in Mo`ili`ili always made me wonder what life was like before... and whether I'd be able to stand having my neighborhood bisected like that.

Yeah, the centralization of services is good for business and probably efficient and logical in many other ways, but not having a "corner store" on your block, and having to rely instead on a "retail complex" for everything from sunscreen to lettuce, doesn't leave much room for a neighborhood to have much character.

[1stwahine]

:D You can still get um' ...only if you dare to venture. The corner store on left as you turn to Pauahi Street. I bought some for my MAMA three weeks ago, uhhhh snow caps.heheheheheh

[1stwahine]

I was checking our sister site, "hawaiistories.com." I came upon a story by Eric, "Aloha, B&S Store."

http://www.hawaiistories.com/eric/2006/06/20/aloha-bs-store/

Yes, sadly another Mom & Pop Shop is closing. It is where I go to purchase Shave Ice for soooo many years! I always ordered mine with ice-cream and azuki beans. Strawberry flavor. Yummy on a hot day. Sit outside on their wooden bench and walau'au with other shave-ice eaters!

Many times over the years I visited by myself, with my children and with friends.

Mahalo, B&S Store! I shall truly miss you. :(

Auntie Lynn

[GypsyLika]

I was shocked to see dat Navarette is still open. Da small store across August Ahrens. Small keed time us use to buy ice cake afta school.
A lot of Waipahu's mom & pop places are gone yeah. Use to have Kawano's with dat soda fountain. Carl Kawano is my classmate, one of da Arakawa boys is my classmate. Use to have Agmata's across St Joe's next to da okazuya. Takenaka's......pau awreddy. :(

[SusieMisajon]

It's sad though now a lot of M&P's are owned by immigrants where you can buy drug paraphanalia like those mini butane torches and quarter-size zip loc bags for those crackheads, and porno magazines, cd's and liquor as a minor.

Oh man someone needs to start two threads on hard to find candy and those good old Coffee Shops.
What does being owned by immigrants have to do with drug paraphanaila? Isn't almost everyone an immigrant, or the issue of immigrants, in Hawaii? They work hard to get a better life for their kids, just like your grandparents probably did, too.

Tears ago, in Kailua, there was a store called 'Mescalito'...and one called 'Heads you Win'...both full of drug stuff. India Imports wasn't just batik fabrics, either.

[na alii]

What does being owned by immigrants have to do with drug paraphanaila? Isn't almost everyone an immigrant, or the issue of immigrants, in Hawaii? They work hard to get a better life for their kids, just like your grandparents probably did, too.

Tears ago, in Kailua, there was a store called 'Mescalito'...and one called 'Heads you Win'...both full of drug stuff. India Imports wasn't just batik fabrics, either.
That's some old memories there. Mescalitos and India Imports. I used to buy black light posters there. I wonder if Hawaii's Natural High across the Waikik Post Office still sells those drug paraphanailas?

[Glen Miyashiro]

That's some old memories there. Mescalitos and India Imports. I used to buy black light posters there. I wonder if Hawaii's Natural High across the Waikik Post Office still sells those drug paraphanailas?Judging from their radio commercials? I'd say yes. :rolleyes:

[na alii]

Judging from their radio commercials? I'd say yes. :rolleyes:
I hear it on the Big Kahuna all the time but I thought they had a law that put a ban on selling those things? I remember that they raided stores that was selling drug paraphernalias.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Jan/07/ln/ln21a.html

[SusieMisajon]

That's some old memories there. Mescalitos and India Imports. I used to buy black light posters there. I wonder if Hawaii's Natural High across the Waikik Post Office still sells those drug paraphanailas?
I am getting to be an old woman.

[AbsolutChaos]

I wonder if Hawaii's Natural High across the Waikik Post Office still sells those drug paraphanailas?

It sure does! (Not that I would know from personal experience.) It's the place to go to buy a lot of tickets for various local band concerts around here too.

There's a new place in town for "smoking" stuff....Pipedreams Smokeshop in downtown. They've been trying to pull people in by promoting free wine and live music during Gallery Hops, but they are located more toward the fringe of Downtown, in the Chinatown area, away from most of the galleries, so I wonder how they'll survive...

[1stwahine]

There's a new place in town for "smoking" stuff....Pipedreams Smokeshop in downtown. They've been trying to pull people in by promoting free wine and live music during Gallery Hops, but they are located more toward the fringe of Downtown, in the Chinatown area, away from most of the galleries, so I wonder how they'll survive...

heheheh They'll survive in Chinatown! They get plenty smokers dea. :eek:

Auntie Lynn :p

[timkona]

The loss of M&P stores is the result of modern zoning practice. Separating residential from commercial from industrial from schools is a practice that only started in the last 50 or so years. Used to be that use of land was all mixed up, and you would find houses next to apartments next to M&P stores next to schools next to factories. And lots of folks lived upstairs on the 4th floor. Now we have subdivisions with 10000 sf per lot, and the distances have become too far for people to walk comfortably. When you hear people talk who desire "low-density" growth, you can be certain that they don't understand the tragic implication of their position.

A lot of things changed 100 years ago when the automobile became popular.

[SusieMisajon]

The loss of M&P stores is also because it is usually cheaper to buy from the big names, that get a better discount on their own 'bulk buys'.

M&P stores are but a little picture....Buy cheap from Walmart and kill your local store, and make China work harder, and get richer.

[mamapuleta]

I'm a newbie here, and man what a lot of stuff you people got going on here! Luv it..like a kid in a candy store..don't know where to start..but here goes - mom and pop stores in Palama of the 50's and 60's..

At one end of the hood on Palama St. was Loo Store. I used to go there every morning to buy two loaves of Top Hat bread. It was $.20 each. Right across from Loo still on Palama, sat a mom and pop which had a side that opened onto Austin Lane, and another onto Palama St. Heading toward King St. at the corner of Palama and Kanoa St. and directly across from the banyan tree, was still another mom and pop, and the mom and pop of all moms and pops, Tamashiro Market, sits even today, I think, at King and Palama.

At the other end of the hood was Sam Lum Store on the corner of Peterson Lane and King St. Directly across the little one way alley street was Sakamoto Store. Sugiyama was across King St. There were several two or three other little stores which names I don't remember, but by far Sam Lum was the best.

It stayed open late. At least until 10. Sometimes my brothers would send me to the store after the 8 o'clock curfew whistle blew, and I lived in fear of the day someone squealed to my mother. Then there was the soda cooler..stick your hand into all that melted ice, and your hair would stand up! (They must have grounded it sometimes, because it didn't always shock you). Also, Lum Store had the best ice cake, the best grab bags, the biggest dry squid, and the best candy selection. Three generations lived at the store. Later they moved residence to Mililani.

I think the store stayed open into the late 80's anyway. My daughter once vacationed in the Islands and brought me back some pictures of the old hood and by golly, there it was, boarded up and all but it was still there.

Peace.

[Lei Liko]

I love hearing your memories of Liliha/Palama/Kapalama mom and pop stores because they're bringing back so many good memories.

My fondest memory growing up was daddy picking me up from school and then taking me to that store across Likelike School for Icee and Pork Hash. I also had relatives who lived behind the store on Panalaau as well.

A few years ago I stopped in to find out that the lady's still there. Grandma's since passed, but their son (who's around my age) still comes around -- he has a family of his own now!

[1stwahine]

I love hearing your memories of Liliha/Palama/Kapalama mom and pop stores because they're bringing back so many good memories.

My fondest memory growing up was daddy picking me up from school and then taking me to that store across Likelike School for Icee and Pork Hash. I also had relatives who lived behind the store on Panalaau as well.

A few years ago I stopped in to find out that the lady's still there. Grandma's since passed, but their son (who's around my age) still comes around -- he has a family of his own now!

I'm happy to report the Mom & Pop Store across Likelike is still there selling Icee, Pork Hash, Manapua and other goodies to the children after school as well to the neighborhood! ;)

Auntie Lynn

[1stwahine]

According to Eric http://www.hawaiistories.com/eric/2006/06/27/aloha-shimazu-store/ ...Shimazu Store (formerly B&S Store) is open for business! :D Serving the same onolicious Shave Ice ~ juss in time foa summer! :)

Auntie Lynn

[SusieMisajon]

What eight o'clock curfew whistle?!

[D'Alani]

What eight o'clock curfew whistle?!

I think she means the whistle that blew at 8:00pm every night except Sunday. It was the whistle that signified dinner break for the night shift at Hawaiian Pine Cannery. I think a lot of parents in the area told their kids it was a curfew whistle to be sure that we got our okoles in the house. I lived up by School and Aupuni across Ayala's and heard it every night. My mother worked at the cannery so that's how I know about the whistle.
M&P stores around the Lanakila and Kapalama area were also in abundance. There was a Budget Center that was like a mini market where they had a pharmacy. There was a great okazuya named McIrnerny Delicatessen that had ono salad, sushi, and ice cake.

[SusieMisajon]

Thanks. Over here we get church bells....same kinda thing.

[1stwahine]

Remembering Mom & Pops in Kalihi/Palama is making me hungry foa Dried Watermelon Seeds. Wat was the odda one...the small wet kine dat look like pebbles. Dat was ono.

Dey use to put it in small brown paper packages.

Ahhh.. the memories. :(

Auntie Lynn :D

[lurkah]

Remembering Mom & Pops in Kalihi/Palama is making me hungry foa Dried Watermelon Seeds.
There you go talking about food again. ;) I remember had one small store (might still be there) on the corner of Waiakamilo Rd. and Colburn St. (other side of Boulevard Saimin) where I could buy those large chunks of real, dried abalone, fairly cheap too. Those were the days.

[1stwahine]

There you go talking about food again. ;) I remember had one small store (might still be there) on the corner of Waiakamilo Rd. and Colburn St. (other side of Boulevard Saimin) where I could buy those large chunks of real, dried abalone, fairly cheap too. Those were the days.

Yep! it's still there if you'e talking about the one next to Midas. ;)

Hmmmm...Albalone. Cheap. I must go check it out. I love Albalone. Sliced thin on a bed of cabbage with shoyu and chile pepper or mustard.

And there's albalone soup too! :D

I hungry. :eek:

Back on topic. Fujii Store on N. King Street has been open over 60+ years. Of course the original owners were the Fujii Sisters. They sold it to the present owner almost twenty years ago. He has kept the name Fujii Store so everybody calls him "Fujii" although he is Korean. :p

Auntie Lynn

[Kings House]

I always try to patranize the mom-and-pop stores. Don't like warehouse shoping!!

[mel]

When I was growing up on the Big Island, I used to go to or remember several mom and pop stores in Honokaa on the Big Island. Long gone are the following:

Awong Store
Ujiki Store
Nakashima Store
Hasegawa Store - closed in 2004.

Still in business:

K.K. Store

TKS - was a smaller mom & pop called T. Kaneshiro Store, but greatly expanded to become the town's major market called TKS. Store relocated from original location to a bigger property on a hill with parking, shopping carts, etc. Still considered mom & pop to me because 1. i worked there for a short time and 2. used to know original owners. Here are some pictures:

TKS outside parking lot (http://www.honokaahawaii.com/archive/town/Kaneshiro1.JPG)
Interior shot 1 (http://www.honokaahawaii.com/archive/TKS2.html)
Interior shot 2 (http://www.honokaahawaii.com/archive/town/Kaneshiro3.JPG)
TKS former location (http://cdn-52.cdn.buzznet.com/assets/users9/macpro/honokaa/Honokaa_Town--large-msg-113549216026-2.jpg) - now occupied by a small restaurant, gift shop.

Long ago T. Kaneshiro store also had a grocery delivery service. You could also "charge" your purchases without a credit card. They had these little bill things that you signed when you made a purchase and at the end of the month you'd get a paper bill in the mail and you paid it off directly to the store. That was discontinued in the late 1970s after the move/expansion.

Here in Honolulu the only mom & pop that I used to go to regularly when I worked nearby was Tanabe's. They have good bentos over there. I still go once in a while to get a bento.

Here is a photo:

http://cdn-17.cdn.buzznet.com/assets/users10/macpro/default/Tanabes_Store--large-msg-114353621582-2.jpg

(from my BuzzNet site)

They are located next to the Buddhist place near McDonalds and HMSA on Keeaumoku St. Walmart is not so very far away either.

[1stwahine]

Tanabe's makes excellent Laulaus! I come all the way from Kalihi/Palama to purchase them. ;)

(Lurkah, you reading?) :p

Auntie Lynn :D

[mamapuleta]

The King St. fire station across from Kaiulani Schoolo used to blow a whistle at 8 o'clock at night. That was the signal for kids to be off the streets.

Are you from Palama?

[1stwahine]

The King St. fire station across from Kaiulani Schoolo used to blow a whistle at 8 o'clock at night. That was the signal for kids to be off the streets.

Are you from Palama?

Born and Raised. I went to Kaiulani, Kalakaua and McKinley! :D

I also was raised in Aala Area/Chinatown too! My parents owned serveral businesses.

Auntie Lynn

btw: The Fire Station still stands but now houses the Employment Training Center for Office and Computer Technology for Low to Middle Income Persons. :)

[lurkah]

Tanabe's makes excellent Laulaus! I come all the way from Kalihi/Palama to purchase them. ;)

(Lurkah, you reading?) :p
When I was living in the round Holiday Village condo near Daiei I used to go to Tanabe's all the time for their ono bumbucha laulaus and poke, and other times I would go to S. Taniguchi Store on S. Beretania for their ono bentos of which my favorite used to be their brok' da mout' cold ginger chicken.

[lurkah]

The King St. fire station across from Kaiulani Schoolo used to blow a whistle at 8 o'clock at night.
Isn't that near where the old Zamboanga Theater used to be on N. King St., about a block away from Tamashiro Market? Or am I way off? I remember there was also a fire station further Ewa on N. King by Kalihi St. just beyond Farrington High School.

[1stwahine]

Isn't that near where the old Zamboanga Theater used to be on N. King St., about a block away from Tamashiro Market? Or am I way off? I remember there was also a fire station further Ewa on N. King by Kalihi St. just beyond Farrington High School.

Yep, das the one. Right next to Kaiulani Elementary School. The Fire Station by Farrington is still there as well is still in use. :D

Zamboanga Theater is now a church and the front is a Latin/Spanish/Mexican Store where get all kinds of Products to make onolicious foods! They also sell fresh Homemade Tamales! Chicken and Beef. :)

Auntie Lynn

[kimo55]

ok. tamales. mom and pop.
brings to mind
el mercado de laaa rrraaazzaaa.
roll the "R"
best kine tamales. fresh every other saturday.
Let her tellya about dat place on king st.

[D'Alani]

Isn't that near where the old Zamboanga Theater used to be on N. King St., about a block away from Tamashiro Market? Or am I way off? I remember there was also a fire station further Ewa on N. King by Kalihi St. just beyond Farrington High School.

the

That's the old Palama Theater where we used to go for the Saturday cartoons. The Palama fire station was just ewa of the school by Austin Lane. There were three theaters in the area, Kalihi Theater, Palama Theater, and Liliha Theater. and all had Saturday morning "cartoon clubs".

[craigwatanabe]

What does being owned by immigrants have to do with drug paraphanaila? Isn't almost everyone an immigrant, or the issue of immigrants, in Hawaii? They work hard to get a better life for their kids, just like your grandparents probably did, too.

Tears ago, in Kailua, there was a store called 'Mescalito'...and one called 'Heads you Win'...both full of drug stuff. India Imports wasn't just batik fabrics, either.


I think when I say the word "Immigrant" I'm envisioning first generation or those who immigrated here. No we are not all immigrants, our ancestors are, we who are born and raised here are local.

So when I mention today's M&P stores are typically owned by immigrants, they typically are. Not so much the family store passed on thru the generations that were started by M&Ps.

And what does drug paraphanaila have to do with M&Ps? Well take a look the glass counters and what's behind them when buying your next carton of smokes. You'll see those small quarter-sized zip loc bags (used to hold crack), you see those small torch-butane lighters (used to heat it up), and in some bolder M&P's in Wahiawa you'll actually see those glass pipes.

That's what I mean when I said that.

[Pomai]

Here in Honolulu the only mom & pop that I used to go to regularly when I worked nearby was Tanabe's. They have good bentos over there. I still go once in a while to get a bento.

Here is a photo:

http://cdn-17.cdn.buzznet.com/assets/users10/macpro/default/Tanabes_Store--large-msg-114353621582-2.jpg

(from my BuzzNet site)

They are located next to the Buddhist place near McDonalds and HMSA on Keeaumoku St. Walmart is not so very far away either.

Oh man.. classic! I haven't been in that store for awhile, but I used to always go there exclusively for their Poke and absolutely perfect TRIANGLE MUSUBI!

Something about these type of nostalgic convenience stores just screams "local" all the way. The musubi and bento lunches mama-san probably spent hours preparing early in the morning. All the little nick-nacks that you probably wouldn't have given the time of day in a large supermarket suddenly look interesting and even bought on impulse. Love that!

Sadly, I must confess I've only given Sam's/Walmart my time-of-Koreamoku-day in recent time. Whack-whack for that. Tanabe's, I WILL return very soon. Thanks Mel for reminding me!

[craigwatanabe]

What was that small store on the corner of Auahi and Coral? I think it was called Corner Liquor. Amazing store in the morning almost like a breakfast buffet! All local kine breakfast stuff to make bento's.

[Kalihiboy]

the

That's the old Palama Theater where we used to go for the Saturday cartoons. The Palama fire station was just ewa of the school by Austin Lane. There were three theaters in the area, Kalihi Theater, Palama Theater, and Liliha Theater. and all had Saturday morning "cartoon clubs".

I think they had a small theater at Kam Shopping Center where KB Toys is now
as well.

KalihiBoy