HILO, Hawai'i — Angst at the impact of so-called "big-box" retailers has surfaced on the Big Island and Maui, with county officials on both islands considering proposed bans on "superstores" just weeks after Kaua'i officials introduced a bill to prohibit additional big-box stores there.

The Big Island County Council Planning Committee voted 6-3 to ask County Planning Director Chris Yuen to study a proposal to prohibit "superstores," which are defined as stores with more than 90,000 square feet that include a grocery section of more than 20,000 square feet.

To fall under the proposed Big Island ban, the stores also would have to carry more than 25,000 items. The measure now goes to the full council.

The resolution does not name any particular store, but the only retailer that has announced expansion plans likely to fall under the measure would be Wal-Mart, which is planning a superstore with a full grocery section on Kaua'i.

Last year, the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, Local 480, launched a campaign to try to block the supercenter format from being introduced in Hawai'i. The union represents about 2,300 workers at local grocery stores.

This month, Maui County Council Chairman Riki Hokama introduced a resolution almost identical to the measure pending before the Big Island council.

Hokama cited the superstores' "tremendous adverse community impacts, including traffic congestion, increased demand on government infrastructure, negative environmental consequences, and harmful, often fatal impacts on small businesses."

O'AHU BID STALLED

A resolution similar to the Maui and Big Island measures also was introduced at the Honolulu City Council in July by Councilmembers Donovan Del Cruz and Ann Kobayashi, but stalled in the Honolulu council's zoning committee.

Kevin McCall, senior manager of public affairs for Wal-Mart, said the retailer's plans to add a new building next to its existing Lihu'e Wal-Mart to create a superstore could be derailed by the Kaua'i bill, which would prohibit any new retail or wholesale facility larger than 75,000 square feet.

If approved, the Kaua'i measure would effectively block the Lihu'e superstore expansion, McCall said.

On Jan. 23, the Kaua'i Planning Commission recommended the County Council approve the big-box store ban. The measure likely will surface at the Kaua'i council next month, and already has the support of Kaua'i Mayor Bryan Baptiste.

McCall said Wal-Mart has been gathering signatures of its patrons and supporters on Kaua'i on cards that will be presented to the Kaua'i council.

BIG-BOX UPSIDE

The goal is "to just let the council members know that there are thousands of people who believe that consumer choice is right, and that they think they would benefit by having a supercenter," he said.

"When Costco came to Kaua'i and its gas station opened, the price of gas dropped 30 cents a gallon simply because other gas stations were forced to compete," McCall said.

A Wal-Mart superstore would offer the same order of potential savings to grocery shoppers, he said.

Baptiste and Kaua'i Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura have said there are enough big-box stores on Kaua'i, and the stores are out of character with the Island.

They also cited the traffic generated by the stores, and questioned where the employees needed for additional big-box outlets would come from given the low statewide unemployment rate.

In Hilo, County Councilman Stacy Higa said he introduced the proposal to ban superstores because he is concerned about the harm they could do to a "very fragile" local agricultural sector.

State and county officials have invested a great deal of effort and money in support of local farming, he said, adding that history shows larger supermarket chains tend to buy produce from the Mainland. Smaller grocers and local chains tend to buy more local goods, he said.

COMPETITION DOWNSIDE

Higa also said big-box retailers tend to eliminate competition by driving other retailers out of the market, and then raise their prices. However, Higa said he wants to see what the county and the public have to say about his proposal, and said he is not yet committed to a ban on superstores.

"I want competition, don't get me wrong. It's just a matter of, how do we help nurture and foster healthy competition, good competition," Higa said.

McCall said Wal-Mart deals with hundreds of Hawai'i suppliers, and sells about $170 million worth of local products in its Hawai'i stores each year. About 25 percent of what Wal-Mart sells in Hawai'i comes from Hawai'i, he said.

"Our focus would be to purchase as many of the local agricultural products as we can," he said.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.