hunterbishop.com

Well, usually Walmart stirs up a lot of emotions. I never would go to Walmart but for the lack of a Target or more income. Where else can I buy a pound of butter at a consistent price of $2.32? Oddly enough, not at the Kona Walmart where it sells for $3.57. Due to the high cost of living, I've often gone to KTA, Safeway and Foodland on the same day to take advantage of their coupons and sale items. I only tend to buy things that are on sale. That's how I afford to eat.

Yet, my biggest problem with shopping here is the lack of variety. Where are the decent asian grocers? Why can't I find a good selection of Mexican products? Where are the fresh Indian spices? Often these kind of products are supplied by small business grocers who will probably not be affected by Walmart.

Anyway, I just don't see the problem of a Walmart Supercenter being a front-and-center issue for our County Council. I find that a lot of people are conflicted about the situation; I've known people who said they would never shop at Walmart but end up shopping for an item they couldn't purchase elsewhere or out of financial necessity.
I'd love to have a Hilo Costco, Target and Trader Joes -- but none of those are unionized either. How about a proper health-food co-op (consider the prices and general snobbishness of Island Naturals).

I don't like the way WalMart's employees are treated, but I have to survive economically and that means buying some things there. Stacy Higa's latest stunt is just that, a stunt. His power base having recently eroded seriously on the Council, he seems to be trying to either latch on to a trendy California issue or impress a powerful economic constituency, KTA. Neither is a good reason to force the people of the Big Island to continue to endure unnecessarily high grocery prices.

As Hunter points out, a WalMart Supercenter is not going to drive any small businesses out. It would, however, force KTA and others to be more competitive. Like Rodion, I visit as many as four grocery outlets weekly to take advantage of specials. With a Supercenter, I would probably still do that, but I am willing to bet that my weekly total spent would go down.

I am somewhat concerned that the new supposedly "green" majority on the council might fall for Higa's fallacious ploy and pass the proposal. Let's hope not. There was a published study several years ago by a reputable economist who had well-documented numbers showing that even given the expensive distribution realities of being in the middle of the Pacific, Hawaii consumers were being dramatically overcharged. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I saw it or the author's name. Anybody else remember this and have a clue as to where to find it? It was a real eye opener.

Thanks Hunter, I read the article in the WHT and was hoping that you would allow some discussion on the subject of big box stores. I am not a frequent visitor. shopper or fan of both Kmart and Walmart for a number of reasons. First I feel like most of the stuff they sell are junk and this junk is what causes people to want to throw away their old stuff and replace it with this junk stuff which then causes the old stuff to become trash that end up clogging up our landfills. If I am not mistaken, I remember Barbara Bell saying some years ago that the trash dramatically increased at the landfill soon after these big box giants moved in. So, first question would be, will the price savings gained from shopping there outweight the costs associated with the increased trash at the landfill? Another reason for not being a fan of these stores is that they are a major cause of our traffic congestion. Those huge parking lots are meant to cause traffic to gravitate toward them. So the second question would be, will the price savings gained outweigh the costs associated with the traffic congestion caused by these stores? A last reason for not shopping there has to do with their humongous size. First you have to get your car parked in the huge parking lot, then you have to hike through that huge parking lot making sure that you don't get hit in the process in order to get into the store. In the store, you now must figure out where to find what you came for and take a hike to get it (if its there at all) and another hike to find a cashier. Whew! Lots of exercise but lots more wasted time too. So the last question would be, will the price savings gained outweight the cost of wasted time that it takes to actually get the item that you came for? My answers to all 3 of my questions would be a big NO. The price savings are not worth the costs associated with increased trash, congestion and wasted time. I am glad that Stacy Higa was brave enough to question big box expansion. We have enough of them in Hawaii and we don't need more. Mahalo.

Intelligent road design and traffic control can offset most of the costs associated with big boxes being car magnets. Unfortunately, intelligent road design and traffic control are notably lacking on the Big Island, but things could change, especially if the big box guys pay for and design the road improvements.

As far as generating more rubbish, creating a supercenter would not increase it because new type of goods to be sold (groceries) would be purchased anyway from existing outlets.

The size of the parking lots and stores is intimidating to some people, but most deal with it well enough. Others can stay away.

Why not let the ecomomic market decide? If the things are too annoying for people to use, they will fail. But trust me, they won't. Stacy Higa just wants to try to keep the good old boy backroom power structure going a little longer.

Intelligent road design might not be as intelligent as one might think it is. Synchronized traffic signals and widened roads and intersections only induces more traffic. More traffic causes more congestion. Congestion should never be the price that a community must pay in return for developer paid road improvements, IMO.

Rubbish? Lots of the junk in those big boxes are not biodegradable like food is. A supercenter means more and more unbiodegradable junk. The more junk, the more of a landfill problem since it will cause people to keep buying and throwing away endlessly.

Size? This is more a matter of wasted time rather than intimidation. Lots of wasted time in trying to get through the traffic congestion, huge parking lot, and huge store in order to find the goods.Its not a wise way to spend time that so many of us have little of in the first place IMO.

Supercenters are a huge scar/eyesore on the landscape and can hardly be classified as just an "annoyance". Many towns on the continent are forcing them to adjust to the community rather than the community adjusting to them.

If the council is as green as they say they are, they would immediately call for a thorough analysis of the tangible and intangible costs associated with these monsters.

Believe it or not, even though I work at a local big box retailer, I support this resolution. As long as it won't prevent other positive big box retailers (like Target) from coming here. I've been in a Wal-Mart Super Center.Its what I call a category(s) killers. As its got everything from auto repairs to groceries on top a traditional Wal-Mart.In short, we really don't need this type of store here.

I guess I am the only one out here who believes in a free and unfettered market. If by "category killer" you mean the elimination of the ability to overcharge at will, then maybe we need some killing done. If you look at what groceries cost at KTA vs. on the mainland and add in the extra shipping cost, you will see that they are making a killing. And I know people who work at KTA, and the wages are not significantly higher than at WalMart. It is the profit margins that are significantly higher.

Wakine, I can remember when there was no Costco,Kmart and
Wal-Mart.My mom would have to pay 50.00 for a pair of shorts when I was younger.We'd have to go the mainland to get somethings. My point is I can remember the dark days. But allowing a Wal-Mart super center to build here is simply
too far.

At least at KTA, they comply with the State labor laws and put their workers on health care when they become eligible for it as opposed to Walmart who is always looking for ways to keep their workers from getting health care. I was buying my cheap lettuce from Costco until the spinach scare really made me rethink my actions. Although they blamed the e-coli outbreak on pigs, what they really didn't tell us is that due to California's severe water shortage, they have to water their crops with treated water which might not be as clean as we hope it is. I now buy my organic lettuce from KTA and will eventually start growing my own again.

Aaron, if your mom had been more in tune with what the locals in Kona were doing 20 or 30 years ago, she would have found out that they would drive over to Hilo in order to do their clothing shopping rather then travel to the mainland. Much cheaper IMO and shorts at Kress Store, Woolworths, or National Dollar Store were way less than 50 bucks.

Actually big box retailing is an already outmoded form of retailing IMO that has severe impacts upon a community. Thus the reason why Walmart is supersizing itself and diversifying into the service sector.

I think its about time that big boxes convert themselves into real warehouse distrubution centers where sales clerks are manning the keyboards and monitors instead of the cash register and taking our orders for items via the internet and fleets of delivery trucks are on hand to deliver our orders directly to our homes. That should cut down on a lot of traffic congestion IMO and make us think twice before buying items that we really don't need.

Josephine's idea about warehousing and on-line ordering has a lot of merit, especially if efficient pooled delivery systems are part of the system. And, yes, people WILL order groceries on-line (even produce) if quality and prices are right. Several mainland cities have had successful on-line grocery operations. About half of these have failed, which is not bad considering that less than half of new businesses make it for five years or more.

That said, I still wish we had a WalMart Supercenter, if for no other reason than to make KTA and Safeway bring their grocery margins down to something more reasonable. Food is one of the most basic needs of all families, and it does not really have to cost what we are paying. And don't get me started on the Jones Act, which artificially inflates shipping costs and raises everyone in Hawaii's cost of living to guarantee a few hundred union jobs.

Wankine,

Maybe someone like you with your good wordsmith ability should explain to the nice folks out there exactly what the Jones act is all about. Some people might begin to realize that the island are being held for ransom so a few can have “GOOD JOBS”. This should be openly discussed, but I’m sure that as soon as anything is said it will be taken as union bashing.

The Lack

remember when the hawaiians were protesting the wal-mart store being built in hilo, and all the emotion that goes along with such activism? well, look at today and observe the same hawaiians shopping at wall mart and working at the wal marts or other large retailers. josephine you and other hawaiians are always talking out of both sides of your mouth.

The Jones Act is a World War I era piece of federal legislation that requires that all goods shipped between US seaports be carried on US owned and flagged ships by US crews. It does NOT stipulate that those crews be unionized, but all US owned shipping companies are unionized. One result is that shipping costs between Hawaii and the mainland are higher than unregulated market forces would produce. Another result is the collapse of the ocean shipping industry between US cities other than those overseas.

What would have been a potentially competitive means of interstate transport has been taken out of the economic equation. The shrinkage of the industry has led to the loss of economies of scale, resulting in cost increases on top of the higher union wages.

Ocean container shipping is one of the more fuel efficient means of moving goods. In the 19th and early 20th century, goods were transported via ships all up and down the east and west coasts. This gradually died out after the Jones Act passed. I am not an energy expert, but I have read that ocean container shipping uses less fuel per ton than either railroads or trucks.

Senator Akaka and others have fought the repeal of the Jones Act citing national security issues, saying that we would be at the mercy of foreign shippers who might cut off our lifeline for political or military reasons. In truth, this rings hollow because there are so many different nations in the business who would love to pick up the slack should someone else be so foolish as to stop. Akaka has at least been honest enough to publicly state that one of his reasons is to protect union jobs.

The long and short of it is that we all pay more for nearly everything so a few hundred people can live a higher than average standard of living. If that is union bashing, then so be it.

Bravo Wankine,

You nailed it quite well, but let me add something to try and make it simple. Say that Japan wanted to ship a load of Toyotas to Hawaii direct. This is not allowed because Japan owns it’s own ships and that makes the ship of foreign registry. Under the Jones Act it is not allowed to go directly to Hawaii, it in fact, must go to the mainland first then off load. The cars now must be reloaded to a US registered vessel and Matson is the one that has the Hawaiian islands sewed up [union operation]. Let us not forget that it is a very large union and most of their members are on the mainland or the ships themself. Honolulu has a small amount of members here in comparison.

The cost of additional fuel to go to the mainland then back to Hawaii and the extra loading, unloading, then reloading and unload again of the cars drives the cost way up. I use the car so as to make it simple to understand. Now remember that all foreign goods that we use here in Hawaii have that same additional fee tacked on to them because of the out dated Jones Act. This gives the unions on the mainland lots more jobs and money at our expense.

If we allowed some ships into Hawaii other than just US registry and made them use our union members over here to load and unload, not only would our local union get much larger but our cost of goods would drastically be reduce. But Matson [a major political founder to the good old boys club] is never going to let a thing like that happen. So dig into your pockets a little deeper and be happy that we live in paradise. Well, that’s the way the good old boys see it anyway.

The Lack

I like the example about the cars. All the more reason why we should be very selective about the cars that are actually allowed to come to the islands. They should be very fuel efficient, and last a long time like my 15 yo Honda Civic wagon with 328,000 miles and still going.

Local, I don't know how local you are BUT I was not living in Hilo at the time that Walmart came up and I don't know who the Hawaiians were who were protesting Walmart. However, I am sure the reasons they used for their protest were not the reasons I gave earlier for why Big Box Retailing expansion should be limited. Unfortunately, once these retailers get established its really hard for poor Hawaiians to ignore their cheap prices. I try to limit my consumption habits which really helps in me not having to need stores like Walmart and Kmart.

I think there's a way to live with what we have as far as the whole Jones Act thing which is to be selective and try to limit what you need and buy.

Wankine,
Stacy Higa has no backroom power structure, all he has is his pal Donal Ikeda. Once he lost the chairmanship, and refused to take any leadership roles in the new council, his political stature is meaningless. Now to gain some attention he is bringing up the "Big Box Super Store" bogeyman. It will take a lot more than that to clean up his image.