Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, January 4, 2000
Chevron, dealer set Oct. 3 court date
Chevron Corp.'s effort to oust dealer Frank Young from his Kakaako station is scheduled to go to trial in October. Chevron has accused Young, a frequent Chevron critic, of repeatedly violating his service-station lease. Young has denied the allegation and filed a counter-lawsuit, accusing Chevron of artificially inflating wholesale gas prices to Hawaii dealers -- a charge Chevron denies. Chevron originally wanted Young to vacate the station this month, but the two sides agreed to an Oct. 3 trial. That means Young, whose lease expired last year, is expected to continue operating K&Y Chevron at least through the trial.
A&B merges unit into parent company
Alexander & Baldwin Inc. has merged its food products and property development subsidiary into the parent company. A&B-Hawaii Inc. no longer exists as a separate legal entity of Alexander & Baldwin, whose other major subsidiary is Matson Navigation Co. A&B said the merger, effective at the end of 1999, was done to simplify the corporate structure.
Hawaii leads states in retailing gains
Hawaii had a strong gain in holiday season same-store retail sales last month, topping all other states, according to a count by TeleCheck Services Inc., a leading check-acceptance company. Retail purchases paid for by check in Hawaii in December were up 6.5 percent, just below the District of Columbia's 6.6 gain from the previous December, TeleCheck said today. The national rate of increase was 5.8 percent for December. TeleCheck, which says check spending accounts about one-third of all sales, said the state with the next-highest gain after Hawaii was Texas.
In other news . . .
The Honolulu Board of Realtors has agreed to provide its Multiple Listing Services in Kona through the Kona Board of Realtors. The system, to be available in the second quarter, will bring Big Island real estate professionals a computerized listing of available homes, prices and sales.