ABC rolls the ABC Stores President Paul Kosasa is hoping 61 will be his lucky number when he opens the chain's first retail store in Las Vegas this summer.
dice in Las Vegas
The Hawaii-based retail chain
is set to open its first store
on the mainlandBy Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.comLas Vegas will be ABC's first foray to the mainland -- a far different market from the company's traditional homes next to Pacific island resorts. Of the 60 stores ABC already runs, only two are outside Hawaii, in Guam and Saipan.
"There's a lot of business potential in Vegas and a lot of visitors," Kosasa said.
The 6,000-square-foot store will be in an area familiar to island residents who frequent Las Vegas. It will be downtown on Fremont Street, not far from the California Hotel, a popular destination for visitors from Hawaii.
ABC will likely do well, even though the name may be relatively unknown in Las Vegas, said local retail real estate specialist Stephany Sofos. Anyone who has visited Hawaii will recognize the name, she said, and the company is used to catering to tourists.
"ABC can make a quick change because they look for what customers want and change with their needs and it's a small privately owned company," she said.
Following the economy
Waikiki's most familiar chain of retail outlets joins a growing number of local companies who have chased business to the mainland.
Other Hawaii names already established in various mainland cities include Hilo Hattie, Endangered Species, Hawaiian Vintage Chocolate, L&L Drive-Inn, Crazy Shirts, The Sultan Co. and Food Pantry subsidiary Lamonts Gift and Sundry Stores.
Kosasa said he is optimistic about ABC's decision. But he is cautious about the possibility of further mainland expansion, preferring to wait and see how the Las Vegas store turns out.
For now the biggest challenge will to figure out what kind of merchandise will work best for the Las Vegas market, Kosasa said.
ABC's Las Vegas store will not carry the usual array of macadamia nuts, beach mats, towels and rubber slippers familiar in Hawaii stores, but Kosasa said there could be some hint of the Hawaii connection.
"We will be catering to the Las Vegas market, but there may be some evidence of Hawaiian goods," he said. For now, Kosasa said he is not sure what those items would be.
Other Hawaii-based retail operations have found doing business on the mainland financially rewarding, often fleeing dreary island economic times for a stronger mainland business climate.
Lamonts Gift and Sundry Stores has grown by leaps and bounds since it first made the move four years ago, said company President and CEO Tom Weston.
The company originally found its niche within Hawaii's hotels and carried that formula to the mainland.
Four years ago, with tough economic times prevailing in Hawaii, the local outlook was limited, Weston said.
"There was not a lot of hotel growth or visitor-related shopping center growth in Hawaii so we decided to expand," Weston said. "We were looking to grow but running out of opportunities."
In the past four years, the company added 24 new outlets within hotels from coast to coast. It plans to open another three this year, Weston said.
Lamonts grew far more quickly than originally envisioned, Weston said. It also had to adapt to different markets.
"In Hawaii, we deal only with resort-type hotels because that's all we've have," he said. "But on the mainland there are business convention hotels and airport hotels as well. So depending on that you have to merchandise differently."
Quintessential Hawaii retailer Hilo Hattie has also established outlets across the mainland.
The company recently added to its mainland locations in California, Arizona and Nashville, Tenn., with the latest store in Miami.
The company's challenge was to find the right mix of merchandise to appeal to mainland customers, said Carlton Kramer, Hilo Hattie vice president of marketing.
Another obstacle was training staff to be knowledgeable about the products they sold. That required a local touch, he said.
"We set up with a local general manager to open the stores and train staff on Hawaiian hospitality," Kramer said.
In some areas of the country, even some unlikely spots, the company has been able to attract staff with Hawaii connections, Kramer said.
"In Arizona we found half the staff had lived in Hawaii or were Polynesian," said Kramer.
But in some areas, attracting ex-Hawaii residents as employees was no surprise.
"We have lots of ex-pat Hawaii people who work for us in Las Vegas," said Lamonts' Weston. "At least 50 percent of our staff."
Kramer said that although the company did its homework prior to opening on the mainland, it still had to change the merchandise mix after watching sales and surveying customers.
"The prints popular here are not necessarily the most popular prints on the mainland," he said.
The result is that Hilo Hattie has evolved into an island lifestyle store, carrying products and clothing from other areas in the Pacific, not just Hawaii.
In spite of Hilo Hattie's mainland success, Kramer said he is still amazed by the quantum leap in the size of the customer base.
"In Orange County we have 3 million people surrounding our store," he said. "In Dade County, Miami, it's 2.5 million within a 10-mile radius.
For ABC Stores and its planned expansion to Las Vegas, Kramer predicts success.
"I would suspect they'll do well there. They have a really professional formula," he said. "Like anything else, you have to do the basics well."