8 Hawaii music
stores sold

Star-Bulletin staff

Eight music stores in Hawaii will be acquired by Pittsburgh-based National Record Mart Inc., under an agreement announced today. The record shops operate under the Tempo Music and House of Music names.

NRMI said it is buying the stores from their owners, Tempo One Stop Records Inc. and Happy Town Inc. for an undisclosed price. The two selling companies are related, in that each owns stock in the other, said Theresa Carlise, NRMI senior vice president. The presidents of both companies signed the sale deal, she said.

They are also selling eight record shops in California to NRMI.

NRMI said the added Hawaii and California stores will boost its annual revenues by $14 million.

House of Music, now down to one store in the Ala Moana Center, is an historic name in Hawaii record sales. The business started with a Waikiki store in 1949.

Tempo has two stores on Oahu -- in the Kapolei Shopping Center and Windward Mall -- plus two on the Big Island, two on Maui and one on Kauai.

NRMI says iti s the nation's fifth-largest retailer of recorded music.

The company has 169 stores in 30 states and had sales of $112 million in its 1998 fiscal year, ending March 28.