Foodland to close Kauai store in early August
Foodland Super Market Ltd. today announced it will be closing its store at Waipouli Town Center on Kauai on Aug. 9 after 40 years of business.
Foodland said it would not be renewing its lease for the Kapaa, Kauai grocery store, which opened in 1980 as the company’s 28th location. Currently, the store has 70 employees.
Some will be transferred to Foodland Princeville, Foodland’s only other store on Kauai, which will continue to operate. Others may be offered opportunities at sister companies or stores on other islands, if willing to relocate.
“The decision to close this store after our lease expires at the end of July was a very difficult one,” said Jenai S. Wall, Foodland Chairman and CEO, in a news release. “Foodland Waipouli has served Kauai’s east side community for 40 years, and we thought long and hard about the impact the closing would have on our loyal customers and dedicated employees. Nevertheless, the sadness of saying goodbye to this location is balanced by the reality that this store has been struggling financially for several years due to increased competition from big box retailers entering the market.”
Wall added that operating a store in an aging 40-year-old facility with increasing repair and maintenance costs was no longer sustainable, and that renovating it to standards that customers expect today was cost-prohibitive.
“We are grateful to our Foodland Waipouli customers, many of whom are like family to us, and thank them for faithfully shopping with us over the years,” said Wall in the release. “We hope to find a new location on Kauai in the future, and until then, will continue to serve the island at Foodland Princeville.”
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On Oahu, meanwhile, Foodland plans to open two new stores, including Foodland Farms at Ka Makana Ali‘i in Kapolei in July, and Kuono Marketplace in Kahala in late fall.
Foodland said the decision to close Foodland Waipouli was not related to the opening of the new stores.
Foodland Super Market, Ltd., founded in 1948 by the late Maurice J. “Sully” Sullivan, was the first supermarket to open in Hawaii. The Honolulu-based company currently operates 32 stores and employs more than 2,600 employees at Foodland, Sack N Save and Foodland Farms stores on four islands.
