Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, February 18, 1999
Sears Roebuck & Co. plans to close one of its Honolulu offices in late March, laying off about 30 employees who sell maintenance agreements over the telephone to people who bought appliances or equipment from the retailer. Sears to close local office
However, virtually all of them will be able to find jobs elsewhere in Sears' local operations, said Tom Nicholson, a company spokesman in Chicago. Nicholson said the call center at 98-600 Kamehameha Highway in Pearl City is one of less than 10 in the country and the others are all much larger. Overall, Sears employs about 1,000 people making the maintenance contract sales calls, he said.
After a consolidation, calls to Hawaii customers will be made from the mainland, he said. The shutdown is scheduled for March 24.
A&B gives Maui Mall $6.5 million upgrade
A&B Properties Inc. is spending $6.5 million to renovate its Maui Mall. Work will start March 1, subject to getting the required permits, and the first phase -- redoing the center court to install a covered dining area, a stage and tropical landscaping -- is planned for completion in time for the mid-May opening of a 12-screen Wallace Theatre Corp. movie complex. The Alexander & Baldwin Inc. subsidiary said the rest of the work should be finished in November. The design is by Kober/Hansen/Mitchell of Honolulu and a $5.8 million construction contract has been awarded to Maui contractor Arita-Poulson General Contracting. The 182,000-square-foot Wailuku mall, which has 32 tenants, opened in 1972.
30-year mortgages up to 6.82 percent
WASHINGTON -- The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose this week to a five-week high of 6.82 percent from 6.77 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac, the mortgage company. Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 6.46 percent this week, up from 6.40 percent and also a five-week high. One-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged an initial rate of 5.67 percent, an eight-month high and up from 5.58 percent last week.
American pilots unhappy with talks
FORT WORTH, Texas -- American Airlines pilots union said it "is not satisfied with (the) lack of progress" in its negotiations with the carrier over its recent purchase of Reno Air Inc. The union wants their Reno Air counterparts raised to their pay level to keep American parent AMR Corp. from switching routes to Reno Air to save money. Yesterday a federal judge put off fining the pilots union until April for staging a protest that led AMR to cancel more than 6,600 flights for 11 days beginning Feb. 6. American's schedule is back to normal, and the airline offered sale-priced tickets to 100 cities to win back passengers.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
See our [Search] [Info] section for subscription information.