A rampant rumor spreading around Kailua is about to get quashed. "We have no plans to open any ABC Store in Kailua," said Paul Kosasa, president and CEO of MNS Ltd., ABC Stores’ parent company.
The rumor also had reached company officials’ ears, and they are curious to know its origins.
Specifically, the talk was that ABC would open its first Windward Oahu store in the 3,400-square-foot former Muumuu Heaven space in the Davis Building that was vacated in February.
When Muumuu Heaven closed, they "never put a for-rent sign up," said Tom Weller, owner of Weller’s Hobbycraft at the other end of the Kailua Road building.
"An ABC Store wouldn’t be a bad thing, but the question is whether they would charge Waikiki prices," he said.
The rumor also had traveled to the brand new Timmy Tom’s Gourmet Sandwiches shop on Hoolai Street, about a block away from Weller’s shop.
Tom himself had not heard it, but employees were aware of the ABC Store rumor and said it had been making the rounds.
As your columnist made the rounds to check on the well-traveled rumor, mixed reactions were expressed by several area merchants and residents.
The rumor, not yet disproven during the conversations on Wednesday, drew responses ranging from a widely held sentiment that Kailua does not want to become a tourist destination, to a sense of relief that at least ABC Stores are locally owned, to an observation that most of the opposition to all the changes in Kailua are coming from relative newcomers who’d been drawn to the suburb by its easygoing beach town vibe.
Kailua is not the same, acknowledged Steven Parker, owner of Kailua General Store, matter-of-factly.
Having said that, he questions the newcomers’ vociferous opposition.
"We welcomed you, so why not welcome the next crowd?" he said.
The Japanese visitors so prevalent in Kailua during the day "are here from 9 to 4," when the tour buses that drop them off, return to pick them up, said Barbara Green, a volunteer at the Kailua Chamber of Commerce’s visitor information office.
While waiting for check-in time at their hotels, they spend money in Kailua shops and restaurants, then go on their merry way for the rest of their vacations, she said, in between helping Japanese visitors find a bus stop and a restaurant popular with tourists and locals for a late lunch.
A progression of national chains has set up shop in Kailua in recent years, including Whole Foods Market, Pier 1 Imports and most recently and amid loud controversy, Target hit the ‘burb.
Then again, it was noted during Wednesday’s walkabout that Target predecessor Holiday Mart also was a so-called big box store, and was followed by two others, Japan-based Daiei, then Don Quijote.
Area residents Jeanne Hailer, Gary Darling and Richard Sugiyama, who stopped in for lunch at Timmy Tom’s that day, had not heard the ABC Store gossip but noted that rumors are always flying around Kailua.
The long-vacant Arby’sstill is without a paying tenant, but had become a respite for homeless people who were recently cleared out, they noted.
Additionally, "parking’s getting to be an issue in Kailua," Hailer said.
"This is a great time to ride a bike in Kailua," Darling countered, motioning toward the bicycle that got him to lunch.
Hailer and Darling were facing Kailua Road, along which many of the changes begun by previous landowner Kaneohe Ranch Co. are being continued by new landowner A&B Properties.
Sugiyama, however, was facing in the other direction, toward Kihapai Street where longtime Kailua retailers Hardware Hawaii and Blue Star Furniture are located.
"Looks like an old pake (Chinese) town, with all the metered parking," he said. Motioning in back of him toward the town center, he added "that’s a different story."
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
