Longs sues Hilo center landlord
over Safeway pharmacy
HILO >> Longs Drug Stores has sued the landlord of a Hilo shopping center for allowing another pharmacy to be constructed in the same retail location.
The suit filed in Third Circuit Court by Longs Drug Stores California Inc. does not directly name the second pharmacy, but a letter attached to the lawsuit identifies the pharmacy as part of the existing Safeway store at the Prince Kuhio Plaza shopping center.
The Longs and Safeway buildings stand side by side at Prince Kuhio and are attached to each other.
Longs filed the suit last month against Prince Kuhio sublessor Ho Retail Properties 1 LP of Chicago.
The suit says Ho Retail breached a contract going back to 1984 in which its predecessor, Orchid Isle Group, agreed to make Longs the sole pharmacy permitted at Prince Kuhio. The agreement said no portion of the shopping center other than "the Longs Tract" could be used for a "drug store, pharmacy, or apothecary," the suit says.
The agreement made an exception for larger retailers selling drug store items as long as none of those items were of the type that required sales by a pharmacist or the presence of a pharmacist, the suit says.
The lawsuit seeks money for lost business and an injunction stopping Ho Retail from permitting the operation of any pharmacy other than Longs.
In a letter attached to the suit as an exhibit, Longs senior vice president and general counsel Orlo D. Jones wrote to Ho Retail on May 13, 2002, noting that the new Safeway pharmacy was under construction at that time. Jones made a demand in the letter that Ho Retail comply with the lease agreement.
The Safeway pharmacy opened in November 2002, a Safeway spokeswoman said.
Ho Retail could not be reached for comment.