Demise of BIG BOX retailers on Kauai
Its wonderful living in paradise, but it can be expensive, especially when you go to the grocery store. I often watch visitors in the Princeville Foodland as they gasp over the price of cereal, eggs, milk or what have you. There was a time when no relief from high prices existed. Fortunately, Kmart came to the Island, followed by Wal-Mart, Home Depot and most recently, Costco. Being able to buy groceries at Costco is wonderful although the bulk sizes are sometimes much more than I can use in one lifetime.
Wal-Mart had intentions of building the first Super Wal-Mart in the state of Hawaii by adding on to the existing store located in Lihue next to Wilcox Hospital. I thought it would be a great to have a grocery store with reasonable prices where you could buy in smaller quantities. Imagine my surprise when many Council members objected to the expansion, citing the “loss of the rural quality of living” on Kauai. (What about the loss of rural quality due to all the real estate developments that have been approved…)
Nevertheless, after much discussion, the bill recently passed, limiting retail and wholesale stores to 75,000 square feet in resort, commercial and industrial areas. Passage of the bill defeats Wal-Mart’s proposal to convert its existing 119,000 sqft store to a larger one of about 200,000 sqft. The store as it exists now opened more than a decade ago.
The council’s action left Wal-Mart executives “disappointed,” although hope remains they will still find a way to bring inexpensive groceries to our Island. In the meantime, keep growing those bananas and papayas in your backyard. Looks like it will be awhile before we see them sold in stores at anything close to Mainland prices. (Bananas here are usually about $1.19 lb–)
Aloha,
Elaine Schaefer
June 1st, 2007 at 11:44 am
We need to be careful that we are not perpetuating the misconception that the council has just recently allowed or “approved” this amount of development in process of late. It is important to understand that the new projects in Princeville, Poipu and Waipouli are being built on lands that were zoned for such development under their respective areas plans that have been in place for decades. It is the basic suppy and demand of today’s economy that has put these lands into the hands of developers who see a market wherein their product would be well received. Basic entitlement have been in place and devlopers are simply building out what the county approved for those areas many many years ago.
June 1st, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Mahalo for that clarification Roberta. The comment about developments impacting the rural quality of Kauai was not intended as criticism toward the Council but rather that some feel the new residential and condo complexes have had a greater impact on the Island’s rural quality than the presence of Big Box Retailers. Thank you for pointing out that lands have long been zoned for development. I enjoy reading your blog on New Development! Aloha Elaine