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IN HAWAII

Longs buyout not in Hawaii

Longs Drug Stores Corp. is offering buyouts to all its store managers except those at its 32 Hawaii outlets.

The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based chain said yesterday the reason for the buyouts is because it is changing its business model to a more centralized system from the autonomous one that currently exists in its 463 stores. Longs' store managers represent approximately 2 percent of its total work force of 22,000.

Chief Financial Officer Steve McCann said the company doesn't believe the autonomous system currently in place at all its stores can be cost-effective.

"We felt the proper thing to do was to offer folks an alternative if they were going to have a hard time getting behind some of the changes in the operations strategy," McCann said.

However, McCann said the voluntary separation program doesn't apply to Hawaii because each of the stores here will continue to operate autonomously.

"Right now, we don't have any plans for major changes in Hawaii to change (the stores') operating strategy," McCann said. "The business model in Hawaii is very different than on the mainland. They've got specialized issues that make the competitive environment different. We're satisfied with how the Hawaii operations are working."

Longs also operates stores in California, Washington, Nevada, Colorado and Oregon.

Sales at Longs' stores open at least a year declined 0.8 percent in the first quarter. The company expects same-store sales to be little changed or decrease by as much as 2 percent this year, it said in May.

Pago Pago airport still closed

American Samoa's main airport at Pago Pago still was not able to accept traffic yesterday because its runway has not been cleaned up enough to meet Federal Aviation Administration standards, said Tweet Coleman, FAA Pacific representative in Honolulu.

A contractor was working on the runway yesterday and FAA officials would take another look at it today, she said. Coleman said there was still loose aggregate on the strip, stones that could fly up and endanger aircraft.

Hawaiian Airlines, which runs three flights a week to American Samoa at this time of the year, stopped flying there June 6, saying the poor condition of the runway damaged two of its aircraft. Hawaiian said a flight that had been scheduled for yesterday was canceled.

ON THE MAINLAND

Boyd may build new Vegas casino

Boyd Gaming Corp., which opened the $1.1 billion Borgata casino in New Jersey last week, may develop land it owns near the Stardust casino on the Las Vegas Strip to boost profit, Chairman and Chief Executive William Boyd told Bloomberg News.

The Stardust, which opened in 1958, sits on 60 acres of land, the biggest plot of any casino on the Strip, Boyd said in a telephone interview. The casino had earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $15.1 million last year, less than one third the $51.6 million the Stardust earned in 1993.

Boyd said the Las Vegas-based company wants to determine whether the Borgata casino in Atlantic City is doing well before drawing up plans in Las Vegas. The Stardust, where entertainer Wayne Newton performs 40 weeks a year, will benefit from the planned 2005 opening of developer Steve Wynn's $2.4 billion casino about a block away, Boyd said.

Starwood finalizes sale of 12 U.S. properties

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., owner of the Sheraton and Westin chains, sold 12 U.S. hotels for $300 million to pay down debt, bringing its total sales for the year to almost $1 billion, Bloomberg News reported.

Olympus Real Estate Partners, Rockwood Capital, Prudential Real Estate Investors and HEI Hospitality bought the properties, Starwood said. The hotels include six Sheratons, two Westins and two Hiltons.

Starwood has raised $955 million through hotel sales this year. The company expects to sell six more U.S. hotels in 2003 to generate total proceeds of $1.1 billion.

In other news ...

>> Reviving a once-spurned merger effort, Canada's Alcan yesterday launched an unsolicited $3.87 billion takeover bid for French rival Pechiney in a deal that would create the top-selling maker of aluminum.

>> People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued KFC Corp. yesterday, claiming the fast food giant misleads the public by denying it mistreats chickens headed for its restaurants.

>> United Airlines' flight attendants union yesterday assailed the carrier's plan to give 20 percent raises to professional and technical employees, two months after pay cuts took effect for most workers.