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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Kamaaina business
closure leaves 3 pukas
to fill at WardTHE closure of Bob's Fish Market Inc. at the Ward Farmers Market May 31 has left three bays open for new tenants ... and has left some old-timers nostalgic.
Bob's, run by Gail Kaneshiro and daughter Aileen Oshiro, sold local favorites such as poke, char siu, roast pork and plate lunches.
"They opted to retire. They've been with us for a long time and we're sad to see them go," said Melisa Preus, leasing representative for Victoria Ward Centers.
"They had a great following," she said.
Talks are under way with prospective food-service tenants but no deals are final, said Preus.
Neither Kaneshiro nor Oshiro could be reached.
Bob's was established in the very first days of the market as a tenant of the Tropic Fish & Vegetable Center, according to Lorraine Alo, co-owner of Haili's Hawaiian Foods.
"Back in the early '50s the Ward sisters built an open market," she said. Original tenants included Haili's Hawaiian Foods, established by her parents, Tropic's and another Hawaiian food place called Kapua's, she said.
A fire in about 1967 burned down the farmers market.
"When it was rebuilt, the vendors got their own space," said Alo.
She sees the retirement of Kaneshiro and Oshiro as sad, "because they had a nice, established business like ours," but understandable because, "grandma ... she shouldn't have to work anymore."
Alo knows about the hard work required in a family business.
She and her five sisters succeeded their parents in the take-out Hawaiian food business. Donna, Sandra, Roberta, Rachel, Lorraine and Carol Ann "were born and raised here," Alo said.
"We are very fortunate that we have a following of customers here. My mom and dad established it and we're carrying on the tradition," she said.
Haili's specializes in Hawaiian foods, from poke to plate lunches, and its most popular item is lau lau.
Tropic Fish & Vegetable, also a charter tenant, offers popular food selections and does both retail and wholesale business.
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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