It’s showtime
for Honolulu's
retail market
Ala Moana Center's expansion will be the third
By Peter Wagner
major retail and entertainment complex
to be built in the area
Star-BulletinIt's getting a little crowded out there in Honolulu's prime retail corridor, where three major shopping complexes are planned between Ward Avenue and Atkinson Drive in the next few years.
But if competition is keen, the outlook is great for consumers, particularly moviegoers who can anticipate more than 70 new screens in the area.
Ala Moana Center yesterday announced plans for an entertainment-retail complex adjacent the center, to include a 450-room hotel, a "mega" music store, shops, restaurants, and a multiplex theater.
Just up the street, Haseko (Hawaii) has similar plans for its 8.5-acre "super block" on Keeaumoku Street. And Victoria Ward Ltd. is moving ahead with plans for a large complex to replace Ward Warehouse and other commercial properties along Auahi Street.
All three projects, targeted for around the year 2000 or shortly thereafter, share a common element -- movie theaters. Together, they would offer more than 50 screens to moviegoers within a few blocks of each other.
Haseko has signed with Consolidated Amusement Co. to build a 20-screen complex at its planned Pacific Entertainment Plaza. Victoria Ward also has contracted with Consolidated for its complex of 11 to 14 screens. And Ala Moana Center has an agreement with Britain's Virgin Entertainment Group to open an 18-screen multiplex at its planned project off Kapiolani Boulevard.
Philip Shimmin, president of Consolidated Amusement, said the competition could bring prices down and push comfort levels up for consumers.
"It's going to be a challenge for all of us," he said, noting Ala Moana Center's project is "just about an 8-iron away from our Keeaumoku 'Super Block' project."
Multi-screen theaters have become a way of drawing customers back from big national retail outlets and discount stores that have had a major impact on retails markets in the United States in the past decade, Shimmin said.
"Shopping centers are looking for something to differentiate themselves from the discounters, and entertainment seems to be the common component," he said.
And despite competition from cable television, pay-per-view movies, and VCRs, movie theaters are proliferating because more movies are being made, Shimmin said. "It's much more affordable to make movies these days because not all the money has to be made in theaters," he said.
Valery O'Brien, director of marketing at Victoria Ward Ltd., said multiplex theaters are also a means of attracting visitors.
"We need to focus on what's going to bring visitors here," she said. "We need new attractions, and movies are one of them."
The rash of multiplex theater projects near Ala Moana Center is far from all that's planned on Oahu. Signature Theaters is planning a 20-screen complex at Dole Cannery and Consolidated is expanding with new screens in Mililani, Pearlridge, Koko Marina, Temple Valley and Windward Mall.
Ala Moana Center's plans, unveiled with a splashy multi-media presentation, will add 543,000-square-feet of retail space to its adjacent mall, about a third of the center's 1.5 million-square-foot retail space.
The state's largest shopping center said Virgin Entertainment Group Inc. has signed a letter of intent for a 3,500-seat theater complex and a Virgin Megastore, a music retailer. The center also has received letters of intent from restaurant operators Rainforest Cafe and the Cheesecake Factory.
The development will replace low-rise buildings on the block surrounded by Kapiolani Boulevard, Kona, Keeaumoku Street and the Ala Moana Pacific Center. The site is about a block west of the recently opened Hawaii Convention Center and Ala Moana's owners hope to target conventioneers.
The entertainment complex will feature a circular atrium and will be connected to the main segment of Ala Moana by walkways that will be decorated with ocean motifs and a six-story waterfall.
The hotel will be built on top of the entertainment portion of the complex.
Ala Moana officials gave no estimate on the building costs but said construction will begin next year and will take two years to complete. The project will create hundreds of construction jobs and thousands of permanent jobs once it is completed, said Dwight Yoshimura, Ala Moana's general manager.
The announcement came as Hawaii's retail industry is undergoing tremendous upheaval. Just as major mainland retailers have announced commitments to open new stores in the isles, many retailers here have been hard-hit by the downturn in spending by Japanese visitors.
Yoshimura said the expansion underscores center owner D/E Hawaii Joint Venture's long-term view of the isles' retail environment. "It's a statement by our ownership that they think Hawaii will come out of this slump and become a premier destination once again," he said.
Star-Bulletin reporter Rick Daysog contributed to this report.
