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Toshimasa Hasegawa, proprietor of the Hasegawa General Store at Hana that is known for carrying almost everything, died Thursday at Maui Memorial Medical Center. Toshimasa Hasegawa,
owner of famous
Hana store, dies at 90Star-Bulletin staff
He was 90 and proprietor of the store for more than 40 years -- the second generation of Hasegawas to run the Hana landmark.
He was born in Hana to Japanese immigrant parents, who founded the store about 1910 -- the same year he was born.
Hasegawa took over operation of the store from his uncle, Saburo, in 1933. His son, Harry, assumed the operations of the store in the 1970s.
Hasegawa in a 1990 interview remembers working his way up from being stock boy to running the store. "I was doing everything -- I use to stock the stuff, make deliveries from the store," he recalled.
The store was made famous by the 1966 Paul Weston song "Hasegawa General Store."
Before World War II, Hasegawa took up photography as a hobby and took many photographs of the rural community. But much of his work was destroyed when the original store burned down in 1990.
The store now is located in the old Hana theater.
After retiring, Hasegawa built a home in Kahului and took up painting and pottery.
Survivors include his wife, Shizuko; four sons, Harry, Edwin of Santa Monica, Calif., Lester of Fountain Valley, Calif., and Nolan; sisters, Lillian Tomota, of Seattle, Aiko Osafune, of Hiroshima, Japan, and Emiko Aoki, of Hiroshima; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Private services were held.
In lieu of flowers, donation may be made to the Hana Community Health Center.