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At first glance, there isn't much
By Betty Shimabukuro
to this new open market, but don't
judge this book by its cover
Star-Bulletinreschoolers have a little verse that they sing -- "I am a promise, I am a possibility. ... I am a great big bundle of potentiality ..." It should be the theme song of the Honolulu Street Market.
This new Saturday enterprise in Kakaako is a skimpy thing. There's really no kind way to say it. The few vendors are afloat in all that open space. It seems, well, naked.
But what the market has -- to further belabor the P thing -- is parking, plenty of it, and the popcorn people.
Paniolo Popcorn is the anchor tenant, drawing an endless stream of customers. They wait patiently in line, then walk away with as many as a half-dozen bags each, every bag a hefty, 2-foot log of popped corn. More on this later.
What the market also has is the undivided attention of Norman Uyeda, founder and guiding force. A one-time resident of Portland, Uyeda knows what a successful open market can mean to a community, bringing together vendors selling produce, crafts, food and specialty services such as feng shui advice."We wanted to try, not a swap meet, but a real open street market, centrally located," Uyeda says.
They're starting small. Pull up now and you'll likely wonder whether it's worthwhile to get out of the car. But take the time to look around and you'll find a solid little mass of shopping opportunity.
Right next to the popcorn stand, pick up sushi, rolled fresh right there by a young man who in his other life is a sushi chef at the Ihilani Resort and Spa. Slide right and order fresh-tossed stir-fry, cooked up by two more professional chefs.
For dinner later, shop the produce from Souane Farm in Kahuku; pick up breads from Kakaako Bakers, including sweet potato and taro rolls, sourdough and focaccia. For the table, tropical flowers from Stan Asato's Kahaluu Farm and glasses etched in Hawaiian designs by Alden Kam, another weekend marketeer who makes custom vinyl signs on other days.It all has a family feel to it: Uyeda's son Robin runs the Market Grill; his mother, Edna, sells the breads; the popcorn poppers were his students back when he was teaching at Radford High School.
A great big bundle of potentiality. All it needs is more buyers, more sellers and some continuity.
"We've had zillions of vendors, they come once, and we don't see them again," Uyeda says. "Almost every time, shoppers come back looking for them."
The market has been open since February, except for a monthlong closure when it moved from Queen Street to its current location, a parking lot on Pohukaina Street.Uyeda calls it a six-month experiment and hopes to hang on until the Christmas shopping season, all the while attracting more vendors and shoppers. His problem is a Catch-22. Potential sellers want to see more potential customers before they sign on, yet customers won't come in large numbers until the market can offer them more sellers.
Vendors pay $20 a week to set up shop at the market. Uyeda handles all the advertising and takes on such responsibilities as arranging entertainment every few weeks to draw people in.
"You can't find a cheaper place to set up your booth and sell your stuff than here," Kam says from under the tent where he sells his glassware and other handmade collectibles.
It's a great place to launch a business, he says, an enterprise zone for the free-spirited.
sss
This would be a good time to turn back to Paniolo Popcorn.
Kettle-cooked corn is a common thing in many mainland communities, but when partners Al Medeiros and Elton Lee imported their kettle last year, they were the first in these parts.
Propane heats the kettle to about 400 degrees, then in goes soybean oil, sugar, salt, a secret sauce and the corn. The kernels are stirred continuously as they pop, eventually filling the huge kettle with light, crisp puffs that are both sweet and salty and somehow not at all greasy.
Medeiros and Lee did some fairs last Christmas season and attracted quite a following, but it wasn't until they became one of the first street market tenants that they had a permanent home.
Now customers know where to find them. They call and place orders through the week, coming to the market for pick-up, Medeiros says. Walk-up traffic is constant all day as well.
"This morning, 7 a.m., we're still putting up the tent, I'm still sweeping the ground and a guy came up, he wanted five bags."
The corn will keep a week, he says, and many of his regulars buy extra to share (the bags sell for $4 to $6).
Cynthia Chee has been taking home four bags weekly for six months. "Some go to my mother-in-law, some go to my father-in-law, some go to bowling," she says.
"It's better than eating candy. I don't want to ask Al how much sugar there is."
Medeiros is adding two more kettles to the operation soon, but he wants to keep his business local, family-run and small. The street market is a perfect place for those simple aims, he says.
Norman Uyeda strolls the grounds of the market, surveying the possibilities. He owns a sporting goods store, Power Plus International on Hausten Street, but his passion now is this little open market. "Shopping today is so impersonal," he says, reflecting on shopping malls and huge discount stores. "Come here and you can talk to the person who made the craft, see the person prepare your food. Go to buy produce, that's the farmer right there."
His son, Robin, a cook at Ihilani, knows the feeling. All week he works in the kitchen and never sees a diner, then on Saturday he meets every customer face-to-face.
"There's a group of senior ladies, I think they've eaten a hot dog every Saturday morning for months now," he says.
These seniors, from apartment buildings around the market, have been the first to recognize its promise. They walk here every week, buy some vegetables and bread, have breakfast, talk story, then head home carrying their bags of popcorn.
A great big bundle of potentiality.
"I think it's worth it," Norman Uyeda says. "Just keep going."
Honolulu Street Market
Location: 690 Pohukaina St., Kakaako
Click for online
calendars and events.
