The switch Over the past few days, customers have streamed into Liberty House, certainly in search of deals to be had in the waning days of an era about to end, but they also came to catch a glimpse of shopping future as its doors open, at 6:30 a.m. sharp tomorrow as Macy's.
As Macy's takes over,
Events and times
shoppers seek status quo
with smilesBy Nadine Kam
nkam@starbulletin.comThe timing could not be more perfect as, even today, Macy's is on many minds, its name synonymous with Thanksgiving, thanks to the retailers' annual balloon parade -- this year with a patriotic theme -- that takes place on the streets of New York.
On the surface, those who have visited Liberty House in recent days have found not much has changed. The main mall entrance to LH-Ala Moana looks slightly different with its open layout and Macy's shoe department settling in. The fine jewelry department was curtained off, also awaiting the debut of new sparklers, and those who've been to Macy's in midtown Manhattan, where customers aiming for the elevators run a gauntlet of perfume girls and makeup artists offering makeovers, will find a taste of that already.
"We'll be out on the floor greeting customers, emphasizing service," said Deena Nichols, senior vice-president and director of sales for Hawaii and Guam.She also said Hawaii shoppers will benefit from a nationwide "one-price network." Prices here will be the same as in Macy's mainland stores so Hawaii shoppers accustomed to paying shipping costs factored into retail prices, may be seeing a price break in this regard.
And, while many retailers will keep the same items on the shelf year 'round for lack of fashion police, Nichols said there will be none of the nonsense of old styles lingering past their prime, and kept at full-price year 'round.
"We're an aggressive company so we'll be introducing new stock weekly," she said, "New fashion, new brands, new product mix."
Not all the changes will be immediate. "They'll trickle in as we go through the process of getting all stores Macy-ized," she said.
Macy's Hawaii logo carries a version of the hibiscus
that was so long a part of the Liberty House identity.
Physical changes will take place at the flagship Ala Moana and Waikiki stores before making their way into the 'burbs, and neighbor islands.Senior citizens Clara Izawa and Chieko Oshiba, longtime LH shoppers, have already noticed slight physical changes, but more importantly, they noticed a change in policies when Oshiba tried to place something on LH's usual three-day hold. She decided to pass when she found out they would only hold it for one day.
"We hoped they would keep the same policies on holds and returns," said Izawa, "But already it's changed."
Still, that won't stop them from going with the flow. "I like Macy's on the mainland, San Francisco and Chicago," Izawa said. "I'll miss Liberty House. I hope they keep the Pineapple Room. We love to eat there."
And before the Pineapple Room existed, they frequented its predecessor, O'Henry's. "I loved the pastries there," Oshiba said, knowing after so many years of watching Honolulu grow, that there's no stopping progress.
Izawa said she'll try to make it to the Macy's grand opening tomorrow, and while Oshiba is sorry she'll miss it -- she'll be in Vegas -- she knows, "There's a Macy's at Fashion Show Mall!"
Customers will be able to count on seeing familiar faces. Lavina Wong, Liberty House's Director of Fashion and Special Events, becomes Macy's Director of Special Events, and the 26-year LH veteran said, "People think we're all gone, but there are a lot of people who have been here as long as I have, and we're still here.
"I started as a floater, on-call. As luck would have it, I was in the right place at the right time and a part-time, temporary position blossomed into a career."
She now sees her job as being an "interpreter" for customers and the mainland-based corporation as it acclimates to its new home.
"They strongly want to be a part of the local community," she said. Toward that end, a portion of sales of Macy's Curious George plush toys ($16.95 after minimum $35 purchase of other goods) will benefit the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii. A fund-raiser was held Sunday night to benefit the conservancy, Hawai'i Children's Discovery Center and Hawai'i Foodbank; a "Bag Hunger Hawai'i" promotion continues through Jan. 1; and Macy's West has been able to raise $2.27 million to benefit United Way charities, including Aloha United Way.Wong said customers will benefit from increased staff training due to an "increase in resources we didn't have before," and she's looking forward to staging more special events to build excitement into the shopping experience.
"There's going to be a lot of excitement on the floor, and maybe a lot more informal modeling and mini fashion shows, which customers say they love."
Which answers a concern posed by shopper Keiko Glassco, who was looking through the revamped shoe department with husband Sheldon Glassco in tow, and hoping Macy's would be introducing more fashion shows and "interesting events."
Keiko also said she often considered LH sales personnel "impolite. "When they see you they don't say anything. I hope the Macy's salespeople are gonna be nicer and smile more."
For the most part, weekend shoppers seemed to be looking at the switch less as a loss of a local institution, than as a matter of a simple name change. They don't care much who owns the store, as long as Macy's maintains or betters the status quo.
"I hope they have everything comparable to what they had before," said Renee Theus, who normally shopped for clothes at LH, and whose sentiments were echoed over and over. "I hope it's just as nice there," she said.
In a way, a lack of nostalgia for LH can be traced to past actions that alienated kama'aina customers. The department store, founded in Hawaii as H. Hackfeld & Co. in 1849, has been Hawaii's oldest and largest retail chain, having survived two world wars and Hawaii's economic depression that began in the early 1990s and continues to this day.
Even after Liberty House's Ala Moana store opened in 1966, the retailer had little major competition save for Sears and JC Penney. But besides being the biggest locally owned store, LH had the winning aura of being the islands' only source of luxury goods.
That reputation faded as more specialty stores and upscale boutiques moved into the center and into Waikiki, and it didn't help when, in making a push for the lucrative Japan visitor market in the '80s, LH angered customers who felt they were being snubbed in favor of the high-spending Japanese. Locals saw product lines change to accommodate the tourists, and having conceded upscale clothing markets to the specialty retailers, LH seemed to lose its way, ending up filing for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy in March 1998.
"I have to say that toward the ending I wasn't going to Liberty House," said Donna Ige, who started shopping at LH 30 years ago. "They didn't seem to have a lot of new wardrobe. I'm looking forward to changes for the better, and cheaper, maybe.
"Macy's said they're going to be aggressive with markdowns if things don't sell. I'm kind of hoping we'll get bargains," she said, citing the seasonal markdowns that never seem to materialize here because of a lack of competition.
"It's sad that my friends and I have felt we had to go to the mainland to buy what we could have bought at home," Ige said. "Macy's is such a large chain that maybe they'll be able to get things here sooner, when they're still in style."
Macy's will host the official opening of its department and specialty stores at 6:30 a.m. at its Ala Moana store mall level entrance, with the unveiling of its new sign, a Hawaiian blessing and untying of the maile lei. Macy’s takes over
tomorrowA Hawaiian blessing will also take place 6:45 a.m. at Macy's stores at Kahala Mall, Pearlridge, Downtown, Kailua, Windward Mall, Makalapua Center (Kailua-Kona), Prince Kuhio Plaza (Hilo), Kaahumanu Center (Maui) and Kukui Grove (Kauai), followed by the store openings at 7 a.m. The Waikiki store blessing will take place at 9:30 a.m., followed by a 10 a.m. opening.
To commemorate the event, Macy's slippers will be given to customers with a minimum $25 purchase while supplies last. The rubber slippers will imprint the Macy's name in the sand.
Here are more Ala Moana events taking place tomorrow:
>> 5 to 10 a.m.: Live radio remote by KSSK's Larry Price and Michael W. Perry in the Pineapple Room, third floor.For more information, call 945-5894.>> 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.: Cosmetic makeovers, fragrance events, samples, gifts with purchase. Cosmetics, second floor.
>> Noon: Appearance by Carissa Moore, the 9-year-old Hawaii surfer featured in the November issue of Surfing Girl. She will appear until 1 p.m., courtesy of Roxy Teenie Wahine. Stop by the Children's Department, first floor, to receive a complimentary poster while supplies last.
>> Noon to 3 p.m.: Informal modeling on the third floor, while DJ KT mixes music in the Juniors Department, second floor.
>> Noon to 3 p.m.: Keiki can have their picture taken with Curious George. $4 per photo. Children's Department.
Click for online
calendars and events.
