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Hilo Hattie seeks
to recruit displaced
Sam’s Club employees

THE job market is tight to the point that Hilo Hattie contacted Sam's Club when the latter announced last week it would lay off 90 newly hired employees.

Hilo Hattie is looking for 45 people to fill open positions, some seasonal and some permanent, for the Nimitz Highway location and both stores at Ala Moana -- Hilo Hattie and Hilo Hattie the Kamaaina Collection.

"We called the (human resources) folks and they said they would get the word out, but to their credit, some of those folks would be offered transfers (to other Sam's Club or Wal-Mart stores)," said Paul de Ville, Hilo Hattie president and chief executive officer.

"Particularly during the holiday season, I really feel for those people," de Ville said. "I'm happy that we're in a position to offer them employment with a locally owned company."

It turns out that 57, not 90, people will be laid off from Sam's in town and most will be picked up by the Wal-Mart downstairs and Sam's in Pearl City, according to merchandising manager Bruce Cirks. Employees interested in staying with the company have until tomorrow to find transfer positions.

The open job categories at Hilo Hattie run the gamut and the seasonal jobs will run through most of January.

"We've just grown so rapidly in areas such as e-commerce that it has been difficult to keep up from a labor standpoint," de Ville said. "It's a good problem to have."

Another growing segment of the company is corporate sales and uniforms, which offers uniforms for schools, hospitals, restaurants and hotels. It also handles group bulk sales where typical clients include incentive groups that want matching prints or cottons and perhaps specialized embroidery.

"We have some pretty good professional and technical positions to fill there. That's another possibility for someone who maybe wants to upgrade their skills and their challenges."

And their paychecks?

"And their paychecks," de Ville chuckled. "It goes hand-in-hand, as it should."

Those interested, not limited to soon-to-be-displaced Sam's Club employees, may call Hilo Hattie's HR department at 535-6537 or 535-6638, or go to a store and fill out an application.

Old branch overhaul

American Savings Bank has completed a $1.4 million-dollar renovation of its 40-year-old Kapiolani Branch on Kaheka Street. "Since the decor was designed in the 1960s, it was important for us to renovate and upgrade," said Howard Yoshiura, branch manager. A Polynesian voyaging mural by Juliet May Frasier was preserved.

Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo was tapped for the design work that incorporated technological advances, such as palm-print screening access to safe deposit boxes.

The Kaheka, Ala Moana, Queen-Ward and Wal-Mart branches of the bank will operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Buzzbite

California-based Cheeseburger Restaurants Inc. has signed a lease that will put Cheeseburger New York Times Square on famed 42nd Street, according to Nation's Restaurant News. So which municipality offers the company fewer construction delays? Cheeseburger Waikiki, in the old Sizzler restaurant, had been scheduled to open this past summer but delays have postponed the opening until next month. The Big Apple's Cheeseburger is planning an early 2005 opening.

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