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Shirokiya exec
denies report
of isle closures

Its parent company says
a Japanese financial newspaper
misunderstood discussions
of a restructuring

From staff and wire reports

The management of the Shirokiya retail business in Hawaii today denied a Japanese newspaper's report that the three island stores, including the 40-year-old Ala Moana Center store, will soon close.

Walter Watanabe, assistant store manager at the Ala Moana Shirokiya, said he was authorized by management here to say that the report in the Nihon Keizai was not true.

He said the parent company, Tokyu Department Store Co. in Tokyo, sent a memo apologizing for the incorrect story getting out and saying that it was the result of a misunderstanding by Nihon Keizai.

Further statements are expected after a Tokyu board meeting today (Friday in Japan) to discuss a restructuring, but Shirokiya has been assured that the Hawaii stores will not close, he said.

The Nihon Keizai, a respected financial newspaper in Japan, said yesterday that Tokyu had decided to close the island stores to cut costs, ending its non-Japan retail operations.

The Nihon Keizai report, carried by Bloomberg News, quoted a Tokyu spokesman as declining to comment on the report.

Shirokiya entered the Hawaii market with a 23,000-square-foot store which opened in Ala Moana Center in the fall of 1959.

Later, it opened stores in Pearlridge Center and in Kaahumanu Center on Maui.

Tokyu reported a loss equal to more than $470 million for the fiscal year that ended July 31.