Haleiwa Supermarket ends a century of North Shore business tomorrow
Advertiser Staff
The Hale'iwa Supermarket, a landmark North Shore business for more than a century, shuts down tomorrow.
The grocery store, founded in 1907 as K. Sakai Shoten by former plantation workers Kasaku and Tomi Sakai, served the Hale'iwa community and plantation workers for many years until Kasaku's illness forced his son, Charles Sakai, to take over the small general store, its owners said in a news release.
He delivered orders all through the rural workers' camps with a horse and buggy.
In 1954, Charles and his wife Myrtle Sakai moved the store across the street to expand it into a supermarket concept and a cash-and-carry system. In 1975, they expanded the business again and moved back across the street to its present location on Kamehameha Highway next to the town's courthouse.
Charles and Myrtle's nephews Roy and Robert Sakai along with Roy's wife Shinae run the market.
At its peak, the market employed more than 60 people. It now has 35 employees.
The family is selling the business to Longs Drug Store, a CVS Caremark Corp company.
The supermarket has been offering a special closeout sale since Friday, which continues today and tomorrow.
