Sales at Oahu malls
sluggish in August

Star-Bulletin staff

The state's summer retail doldrums continued in August, with sales down 8 percent compared with August 1996, but Oahu's larger suburban shopping centers bucked the trend with the help of back-to-school promotions.

Lower tourist numbers hurt two other large retail centers. The statewide retail sales dropped from $1.23 billion to $1.13 billion.

Here's a look at the major malls' results for August, the most recent month available, provided to the Star-Bulletin by the malls.

Ala Moana Center: Sales dropped 9.6 percent, said Dwight Yoshimura, general manager.

"The drop is due to the continued soft local economy and changes to the makeup of the Japanese visitor market," he said. "We're also finding that visitors from the United States mainland are spending less."

Despite the decline, the category of general merchandise was up 3.4 percent in August. That includes the smaller department stores, Yoshimura said. All other categories were down.

Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center: Sales fell 11 percent, said Charlian Wright, marketing director.

"Visitor arrivals in August were not as high as they have been in the past," Wright said. "August is usually a good month in eastbound arrivals. Yen rates were still around 120 yen to a dollar as compared to 110 yen to a dollar in 1996."

Pearlridge Center: Sales rose 16 percent, said Heidi DiEugenio, marketing manager.

"Two major things happened in August," DiEugenio said. "We had the World of Whales promotion and the Charlotte Russe (women's wear store) opening topped all their company records."

She said the strong back-to-school sales were tied to the World of Whales promotion.

Kahala Mall: Business was up 3 percent, said Laurie Hara, the mall's events coordinator.

"It was our 24th consecutive month of increases," Hara said. "We would have been up more but because some of the back-to-school sales were done earlier we didn't have a big rush (in August.)."

Windward Mall: August sales were even, said spokeswoman Charlian Wright.

Back to school promotions and special events such as the Healty Baby Contest, the Summer Snapp Dance Studio Competition, and the Cartoonists Across America helped attract shoppers, Wright said.