Big Isle’s
Sure Save files
for Chapter 11

Its woes have been evident
by its difficulty in stocking shelves

By Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondent

HILO -- Big Island firm Sure Save Super Markets has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing the company to remain in business while it reorganizes financially, the company said.

Documents were filed yesterday in federal court in Honolulu, said company President Carl Okuyama. The bankruptcy ensures the continuation of 200 jobs, he said.

The company operates three supermarkets -- in Hilo, Keaau, and Captain Cook -- six Wiki-Wiki convenience stores around the island, and an Island Market grocery store in Naalehu. Chapter 11 bankruptcy will allow the company to refinance, which will permit restocking of company stores, Okuyama said. Its supermarkets have been noteworthy for many months for their partially empty shelves.

The company also owns a distribution center, which includes administrative offices, in Shipman Business Park in Keaau. That center is being bought by "a new company involved in the export of Hawaii products," Okuyama said. He declined to be more specific. Construction of the distribution center in 1993 was the factor that led the company into economic problems, he said.

Sure Save also bought the three-store Food Fair chain in 1995. Although one of the outlets, a small downtown Hilo store, was closed, the other two have been profitable for the company, he said.

The company closed its Kaikoo Mall store in Hilo in March 1998, saying it was too small to be a competitor in today's economy.

Closing of the company's Waimea store followed in January, an apparent victim of competition from a new supermarket built by rival KTA Superstores.

"This is a pivotal moment in the 60-plus-year history of Sure Save," Okuyama said. "This reorganization filing will give us a chance to restructure the company to better serve our community."