TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Customers swarming for
Samurai SnacksSlow and steady success-based growth may not set the world on fire. While it seems to indicate that customers have beaten a path to your door, it doesn't guarantee the size of the crowd that showed up for Samurai Inc.'s new Waipio retail and wholesale warehouse and production facility on Saturday.
"It was unreal it was so busy," said President and owner Glenn Yamamoto. Four times the expected customer volume showed up.
"From 9 to 2 it was non-stop full-blast," he said, with a steady flow of customers until closing time at 5 p.m.
They were there for Samurai's No. 1 seller, Maui Style Sherbet, mochi crunch and chocolate malt balls with peanut butter inside, to name a few of the company's offerings.
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Glenn Yamamoto, owner of Samurai Snacks, has opened a new outlet at the Waipio GentryIndustrial Park. The new spot replaces a previous location on Sand Island Access Road.
"Apparently it's a good location," Yamamoto said, in an understatement.
The occasion was the grand opening of Samurai's Puahi Street facility, which replaced its old operations on Sand Island; it is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 9 to 5 Saturdays.
Last week, just two weeks into his Waipio lease, Yamamoto said "We're already doing five times more than we were doing at the other side."
At Sand Island, about 180 square feet of the 5,200 square feet was dedicated to retail operations, while at Waipio, 1,000 of its 7,500 square feet sports retail activity. In addition to revenue from Samurai's Aiea, Pioneer Plaza and Kapolei stores, retail represents about half of the company's business.
The other half comes from wholesaling to stores such as Longs, 7-Eleven, K-Mart, Foodland, Food Pantry, Marukai, Daiei and the Big Island's KTA. For groups raising funds, Samurai produces between 8,000 and 10,000 "prize packs" per month. It also makes special-order gift baskets for businesses and individuals.
Samurai's 32-employee ohana is soon to get bigger with the new space and the holidays approaching; Yamamoto is looking to hire seasonal and permanent staff for the retail, wholesale and production operations.
"We're moving our freezers in the next couple weeks," he said. "We're going to make ice cakes out of here and package them."
Yamamoto opened his first store in 1993 after a season of time spent using his accounting degree to sell auto, commercial and life insurance.
The first Samurai Snacks was in Aiea Shopping Plaza. It later moved to its present location next to Times Supermarket across the street in Aiea Shopping Center.
His retail experience dates to his younger days working at Town & Country Surf Shop Inc.
"I learned a lot from them," he said. "I still remember a lot of stuff T&C taught me about retail. I was like 18 back then."
Back then, circa 1980, he also took a turn as a radio surf reporter. "I don't think anybody would remember me," he said, except perhaps his former fellow surf-reporter, KGMB-TV weather anchor Guy Hagi.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com
