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Checker Auto
exploring
Cinerama site

Star-Bulletin staff

Checker Auto Parts is looking at opening a fifth store on Oahu in the site of the closed Cinerama theater on South King Street.

Checker is in due diligence on the 10,000-square-foot property, and is starting to draft designs for a new store, said Jon-Eric Greene, a commercial real estate representative for the property's owner, Consolidated Amusement Co.

Norm Yoshimoto, Checker's Hawaii district manager, said he did not know when the deal could close or when Checker's would move in.

The site also includes the movie theater's parking lot.

Checker, one of the country's largest auto parts chains with about 1,000 stores, is a subsidiary of Phoenix-based CSK Auto Corp.

The company started doing business in Hawaii just last year, and currently runs a total of four stores in Kailua, Aiea, Waipahu and Kalihi.

The Cinerama, opened in 1962, abruptly closed late last year after a long search by Consolidated for a new tenant.