The chain's Kailua, Kalihi
By Russ Lynch
and Waikele outlets had
'lackluster' sales
Star-BulletinCiting Hawaii's stagnant economy, Foodland Super Market Ltd. said it will close its three poorest-performing Oahu stores by mid-year, starting with the Kailua store on April 26.
The company said it will try to find jobs elsewhere in the Foodland system for the 137 employees whose jobs will disappear.
"Given the worsened condition of our state's economy, we have been forced to take a hard look at each of our stores to determine what must be done to improve performance and enhance our ability to compete," Jenai Wall, Foodland president, said in a statement issued yesterday.
"As part of this process we have identified some stores to be renovated and expanded, stores that will be moved to new locations and, unfortunately, three stores that will be closed," she said.
The second store to close will be Foodland Kalihi, shutting down May 10, and the third, the Sack N Save outlet at Waikele, will close June 30.
The company, however, is moving to improve other stores.
Foodland just completed a major renovation of one Oahu store, at Pupukea on the North Shore, expanding it by 5,000 square feet. It also recently renovated its Sack N Save outlet in Hilo.
Wall said Foodland will soon start construction on two stores to replace older ones, a new 35,000-square-foot Foodland in Ewa Beach and a new 30,000-square-foot Foodland in Lahaina.
Construction will start next week at the Foodland Beretania store for the "store within a store" R. Field Wine Co., a gourmet business that the company bought from Richard Field.
Wall said it was possible to keep the three "lackluster" stores open when the economy was good but that is no longer so.
Foodland, started 50 years ago, has 30 stores on four islands and a total of 2,000 employees. Wall is the daughter of Foodland founder Maurice J. Sullivan.
