I’ve been conversing with Barry Lundquist about Hardware Hawaii, founded by his father 70 years ago.
What I found particularly interesting is how much the growth of the company paralleled the growth of Kailua. The way he tells the story, the two are linked together.
Hardware Hawaii was founded on June 6, 1954, by R. Dana Lundquist in the brand-new Kailua Shopping Center. The Watumull family built the shopping center on land leased from Harold K.L. Castle’s Kaneohe Ranch Co.
The original Hardware Hawaii was in the middle of the center. Other tenants included a Watumull store, Stewart’s Pharmacy, Bata Shoe Store, Melim’s Union Oil Service Station, Kailua Appliances and Mode O’Day.
Barry Lundquist remembers that there was no Times Supermarket at the center until 1958. A French bakery sold Ellen Dye Candies and Krispy Krust pastries.
“Stewart’s Pharmacy had an old-fashioned soda fountain, as did Liberty House, across the street. I was a young boy and viewed Liberty House’s soda fountain as superior to Stewart’s because they sold banana splits.
“Liberty House was the only building across the street. It eventually became Macy’s and was later torn down and totally rebuilt to house a variety of businesses that today includes the Maui Brewing Co.”
Kaneohe Ranch was developing housing subdivisions at the time and selling leasehold homes for $140,000 to $250,000 (in 2024 dollars). Buyers needed approximately $20,000 for a down payment and $1,000 a month (in today’s dollars) for their mortgage. Homes for military personnel were less than half that.
Enchanted Lake
“When I started working at Hardware Hawaii, other than Liberty House, the land across the street was Campos Dairy cow pastures. When the supermarkets started importing milk from the mainland, Mr. Campos, who was a shrewd businessman, developed Kaelepulu Marsh into Enchanted Lake,” Lundquist continues.
“This was a huge project that, among other things, involved dredging the swamp to create the lake that today enters into Kailua Bay via the canal next to Buzz’s Steak House. Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co., originally owned by the Dillingham family, was hired by Campos for this task.
“They joined developer Joe Pao, who arranged to dredge the marsh to a depth of 15 feet. The dirt dredged from the bottom of the marsh was used to build up land that they divided into 10,000-square-foot lots for houses to be built. Pao started building houses in 1960 and eventually built 3,000 houses.
“These were simple single-wall, single-story homes that originally could be purchased with a down payment of $10,000 (in today’s dollars). Today some of them sell for over a million dollars.
“What does the Enchanted Lake development have to do with the history of Hardware Hawaii?” Lundquist asks. “First, there were 3,000 new families that became customers of Hardware Hawaii.
“Secondly, R. Dana Lundquist was not only a hardware and lumber man, he was also a contractor. The Enchanted Lake homes were very basic. He built fences for them, added covered lanais, extra bedrooms, and he converted open carports to enclosed garages.
“Sometimes, on top of these enclosed garages, he built second-story apartments to be used as mother-in-law cottages or rentals. He even built a church.
“After a while, my father realized that as Hardware Hawaii became a full-service hardware store and lumber yard, more and more of our customers were contractors.
“He didn’t feel it was right to compete with important customers, so he decided to leave the construction business to our customers.”
Moving to current location
“I started working at Hardware Hawaii when I was 11 years old,” Lundquist continues. “I was paid the grand sum of $1 per hour ($10 an hour in 2024 dollars).
“We were growing dramatically, and the parking lot was too small for us, so my father bought the property where we currently are, at 30 Kihapai St., in 1990. It was the only part of downtown Kailua which was not owned by Kaneohe Ranch and subject to their rules.
“We moved from 2,000 square feet into a 34,000- square-foot location. It was a dramatic shift that allowed us to provide a complete line of quality products for our customers’ homes.
“During this time of tremendous growth, my father was named Hawaii Retailer of the Year, Outstanding Small Business in the State of Hawaii and Entrepreneur of the Year.
“He believed in overstaffing and putting the customer first. He taught employees that ‘customer service is not part of your job, it is your job.’
“At our new location on Kihapai Street, under the direction of my younger brother, David Lundquist, who eventually became the owner and president of Hardware Hawaii, we were the first in Hawaii to install automated roll-off lumber racks.
“Later, all the lumber companies and many other businesses followed suit. These racks allow huge amounts of lumber to be stored and are much safer for the lumber yard workers’ backs, since they don’t have to manually load the lumber.
“As a result, we became by far the largest lumber company in Hawaii and were able to branch out to Mapunapuna, Kapolei and Koloa on Kauai.”
Musical family
Barry Lundquist’s parents were talented musically. His mother, Mary, began her singing career at age 6 in the 1920s. Twenty years later she was in a chorus backing up singer Nat King Cole.
She sang with the Honolulu Symphony on several occasions. Lundquist says that many remember her for her “chicken skin” performances of the “Hawaiian Wedding Song” at wedding receptions throughout the islands.
“Dad was a composer and poet. He played piano, violin and guitar, and conducted 150-voice choirs,” he says.
“He was invited to be a guest conductor for the Honolulu Symphony. Although he tried to volunteer his services, it was also a requirement that he get paid. He accepted a nominal payment of $100, possibly the cheapest guest conductor in the history of the symphony!”
After R. Dana Lundquist turned the business over to his youngest son, David, he worked full time until the last week of his life. He died on Dec. 31, 1999.
Barry Lundquist graduated from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1969. After serving as a missionary in Liberia, West Africa, he returned to Hawaii to rejoin his family working at Hardware Hawaii as executive vice president.
“I am now 77 and still do a little work for Hardware Hawaii when needed,” Lundquist says. “As the last surviving Lundquist employed by Hardware Hawaii, I welcome you to visit us as we embark on our eighth decade of service to our customers.”
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
