Isle retailer plans IPO
From staff and wire reportsCost-U-Less Inc., a warehouse-club retailer that was founded in Hawaii and has two stores in the islands, is planning to go public by issuing 1.7 million new shares.
Now based in Bellevue, Wash., the company was founded in 1989 and had its first store on Maui. That has been relocated and the company now has a store in Hilo and in Kapaa, Kauai, said Tom Phillips, a spokesman.
The company also has two stores in Guam, two in the U.S. Virgin Islands, one in American Samoa, and one in Sonora, Calif.
The company has filed a registration statement with the Securities & Exchange Commission outlining the initial public offer but it has not yet become effective and no date has been set.
Founder Michael Rose, 47, who is chairman, chief executive and president, will own a 15.5 percent stake in the company after the stock issue. The shares are expected to sell for between $9.50 and $10.50 each.
The company said it expects to open at least 26 stores in the next four years, starting with two in Fiji. Cost-U-Less, which said its competitors include Kmart, Wal-Mart and Costco, closed six mainland stores in the 1994-97 period, saying it wanted to concentrate on island markets. The company said it believes its warehouse-club retailing methods, with no membership fee, and its strategy of selling local products in markets where it does business make its stores appealing to isle customers.
Star-Bulletin reporter Russ Lynch and
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.
