Home Depot opens
24-hour store in Iwilei

Star-Bulletin staff

The doors of Hawaii's first Home Depot swung open to the public yesterday and they'll have little use for locks.

The 145,000-square-foot store, at 421 Alakawa St. in Iwilei, is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Management said by being always open, the store can cater to Oahu's many shift workers as well as homeowners who need plumbing supplies or other goods to take care of emergencies in the middle of the night.

It's the only Home Depot in the country to be open all the time, said Iwilei store manager Bill McKale. "We recognize that both spouses work in many families and our customers need flexible hours to meet their lifestyles."

The store, which employs 300, has 130,000 square feet of indoor retail space and 15,000-square-foot garden center. It stocks 50,000 items for home remodeling, maintenance, interior design and gardening, he said.

Following the company's national charity policy, the store donated $10,000 to Honolulu Habitat for Humanity and $5,000 each to Prevent Child Abuse Hawaii and Friends of the Children's Advocacy Center.

Home Depot also plans to open a store in Pearl City late next year or early in 2001. Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc. operates 863 stores and had sales of about $30 billion last year.