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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Running alone as a
livelihood, talking
as a team tradeVeteran marathoner Raymond Woo turned a key and realized a dream last Tuesday.
Runner's Hi, his runners' specialty store, opened for business at 98-390A Kamehameha Hwy. in Aiea. It is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends.
He's there all the time. "I'm pretty much the janitor, the stock boy and the accountant," said the sole proprietor.
Behind him are the financial backing of his family, more than 20 marathon finishes and 15 years of specialty retailing experience at Liberty House and "another running shop in town, on Kapahulu (The Running Room)," he said.
Kapahulu is home to other specialty shops such as Go Bananas Kayaks. They are Woo's co-tenants in the space that shares a parking lot with Dixie Grill in Aiea.
"The main idea was to service the people in Leeward and Central Oahu where most of the population growth is," Woo said. "This seemed to be the nucleus of the island where the freeways sort of meet."
Customers from Windward Oahu wended their way to Woo within minutes last week via H-3. "They were pretty excited," he said.
In the small-world department, Woo grew up in the area and pays rent to the family that runs the former gas station nearby. It is now called Wally Ho's Garage & Grill and is run by Wally Ho Jr.
Wally Ho Sr. "sponsored my little league team," Woo said.
Gab gift gets gigs
Comic actor Steve Martin once said, "Some people have a way with words. Others, not have way?"KCCN-FM radio personality Billy V. is in the former category.
Lesser known as William Van Osdol, Billy V has been signed to a two-year contract to continue hosting half-time and promotional entertainment for the University of Hawaii. He'll handle mic-duty at UH Wahine and Men's Volleyball, UH Men's Basketball and UH Warrior Football.
Not wishing to cloud the start of the green-and-white, er, black-and-green football season, TheBuzz advised Van Osdol that editors would push to know the value of his contract, given the June Jones contract kerfuffle.
He declined to divulge digits but said he and the coach receive one similar perk. "UH does supplement my pay with tickets to games at UH for my personal use so my wife and son can attend," he said.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
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
