Pier 1 store will
open next month

Pier 1 Imports will open its third Hawaii store next month in Pearl Highlands Center in Pearl City.

Bruce Reed, zone vice president for Pier 1, said the new store will be twice the size of an average Pier 1 store, at 19,556 square feet.

Its inventory will include the usual home furnishings and accessories, as well as "special finds" products generally not available at its smaller stores.

Reed said the new store will employ about 45 full- and part-time workers, including manager Peg Rupe, a Pier 1 management veteran from California.

Pier 1's other stores in Hawaii are on Auahi Street in Ward Centers on Oahu, and in Maui Marketplace in Kahului, Maui. Reed said the Pier 1 on Auahi Street, with a floor area of 15,704 square feet, is the company's highest volume store.

Besides Hawaii, Pier 1 has stores throughout the mainland, Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico. In fiscal 2004, the company had record sales of $1.9 billion.

Reed said Pier 1 Imports will donate 20 percent of the net sales from the grand opening weekend of its new Pearl City store, on Oct. 16-17, to Child and Family Service and the Hawaii chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.