Thanks
for everything
Loyal customers say farewell
and thank yoiu to beloved long-
time Manoa store
By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin
alt="Tapa">Toshio "Toshi" Okamura, Manoa's gentleman grocer, is alone in back of his store, packaging peanuts for the last time.
"In this kind of work, you've got to like people," Okamura said. "I get to see my friends everyday, not just on special occasions. That's been the good part and what I'm going to miss."
When Okamura closed the doors of Toyo's Superette yesterday, it marked the end of a relationship between his family and the Manoa community that began 80 years ago with a "mom-and-pop" store founded by his father, Ichiroye.
The 44-year-old Toyo's Superette building at the corner of East Manoa Road and Keama Place is owned by a relative but Toshi and his family made it a special place to shop.
"I'll never forget their kindness," a teary-eyed Mona Chang Vierra of Hawaii Kai said. "My father (local actor Yankee Chang) died on Christmas Eve 1989 and following Chinese tradition, we needed fresh oranges which were hard to get at that time of year.
"Toshi gave us the oranges and a koden (envelope with money). What he did meant so much to my family."
Vierra visited with the Okamuras yesterday and gave them a gift.
"I gave them Chinese gau because it symbolizes a new beginning and good fortune," she said.
Public support for the Okamuras has been overwhelming since it was announced three weeks ago that they could not afford to stay in business due to an increase in rent.
"Kindness is a word that describes them best," Nobue Izutsu said. "My two daughters, Lisa and Laura, worked at Toyo's part-time while attending UH and they were treated like family.
"For my grandson's birthday and my 47th (Lahainaluna High School) class reunion, they ordered all the table favors for us and made it easy for us to pick up at our convenience.
"For the last 10 years, I've bought my Christmas turkey from Toyo's and Toshi keeps it in his freezer until I need it because I have no room in mine. They didn't do those things just for me, they did it for everyone."
Joni Akasaki and her two brothers, Allan and Gary Araki, all earned extra money working at Toyo's.
"They gave jobs to so many kids in Manoa," Akasaki said. "And they were very flexible about adjusting work times around our class schedules.
"Toyo's was like a community gathering place and we all felt like family."
Rising before dawn, the 75-year-old Okamura and his wife, Gladys, rarely took a day off to keep Toyo's open seven days a week.
"I guess I'll try to rest for as long as I can," Okamura said about his Thanksgiving Day plans. "We'll have dinner at (daughter-in-law) Wendy's mother's house and come back (tomorrow) to finish cleaning up."
Wendy Okamura says the family is looking ahead with a positive attitude.
"So many people are wishing us the best and praying for us that I feel we're blessed," she said. "People have overwhelmed us with their kindness and concern.
"All of us feel very grateful because you can't buy that kind of friendship."
In one of two scrapbooks presented to the Okamuras by their friends, Barbara Yim offers a poetic description of Toyo's:
"A place that felt comfortable -- like home
"Great poke, lomi salmon, etc.
"The smell of fresh roasted peanuts
"A place where generations worked together, each doing their job with loving care.
"Groceries ordered by phone and delivered in emergencies
"Ooops, ran out of checks. That's OK, pay next time.
"My introduction to oriental delicacies with recipes to prepare them.
"But most of all, our entire family was called by name;
"Always a genuine interest in what each member was doing over the years."
On behalf of many others, let's just say, "so long Toshi, Gladys, Glenn, Wendy, Grant, Namiko and Wini -- thanks for everything."
