Waikiki accounted for nearly half of all alcohol sales in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and hotels, and one-third of the dollar value of all retail sales of alcoholic beverages islandwide, commission records show.

Filings in the 12 months ending June 30, 1996, reveal:

Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Sheraton-Waikiki Hotel topped all others with alcohol sales of nearly $9.6 million and $6.2 million, respectively.

The top-selling restaurants (Shore Bird and Planet Hollywood), dispensers (Duke's Waikiki and Hula's) and cabaret (Moose McGillycuddy's) are all in Waikiki.

Waikiki accounted for $125 million in total liquor sales, followed by the Kapiolani area and downtown.

Total sales of alcoholic beverages in Honolulu hit $554 million during the 12-

month period, the reports show. Retail sales of all types accounted for $387 million of the total, while wholesale transactions made up the rest.

Dick Botti, who represents retail liquor dealers and dispensers, said liquor sales provide "a strong indicator" of total food and beverage sales.

The sales figures underscore both the importance of Waikiki to the overall economy of the island, and the importance of alcohol to the tourism industry, Botti said. Botti has previously advocated 24-hour liquor sales at the airport and in Waikiki to better serve visitors.

"People fly in at all times of the day and night and are on different time zones than we are, so why shouldn't they be able to drink?" Botti said.

Laie, the small Mormon community on the windward coast, is the only part of Oahu where alcohol can't be purchased. No business within Laie has a liquor license, although stores on either side of the Mormon stronghold do a relatively brisk business, records show.

The major categories of liquor licenses are retail stores, which sell packaged beverages to be consumed elsewhere; dispensers, which include bars and some restaurants; restaurants; cabarets, which are allowed to stay open for extended hours; and hotels.

Retail stores made up the largest category of liquor sales during the year, with 559 licensees reporting $152 million in sales; followed by dispensers, with 485 licensees and $90 million in sales; and restaurants, with 290 licenses and $61 million in sales.

Also filing reports were 42 cabarets, 37 hotels and 18 wholesale liquor dealers, as well as a few private clubs, cruise ships or tour boats, and a single brew pub.

Hotels had the highest average sales at $1.3 million each, more than twice the $609,000 average for cabarets, which ranked second, and nearly five times the liquor sales of the average retail store.

By law, restaurants, bars and other businesses selling alcoholic beverages must buy them from a licensed wholesale dealer. Just two companies - Paradise Beverages and Anheuser-Busch Sales - controlled 81.5 percent of all wholesale business in Honolulu, the reports show.

Retail sales were dominated by large chains. Safeway led the way with total liquor sales of $18 million among its stores on Oahu, followed by Longs and Foodland, both with just over $16 million in sales.

So-called hostess bars or clubs featuring nudity reported over $35 million in total liquor sales, or nearly one-third of all sales by dispensers and cabarets.

Even the largest, Club Femme Nu, however, failed to rank among the top 50 licensees in overall liquor sales, according to the reports.

The liquor sales information is contained in annual reports filed in July by each of the approximately 1,400 businesses licensed to sell alcoholic beverages in Honolulu.

Although sales are normally tightly guarded business secrets, total liquor sales are used to calculate license fees due to the city and are considered public information. The reports contain the total dollar value of annual sales for each licensee, but do not disclose other details, such as the breakdown among beer, wine and liquor, the volume sold, or business profits.

Sales and profits are sometimes very different things, the reports show. For example, Studebaker's ranked second among cabarets with $1.9 million in liquor sales during the year, but the club went out of business in August anyway.