After Sears, Ala Moana needs local stores, products

That old jingle that went “Ala Moana, Hawaii’s center, the center of your world” kept running through my head when Sears announced it would close its store there.

The advertising tune reflects another time when the shopping mall’s target was primarily local residents, its stores diverse enough to attract customers with varied income levels.

The tears on Kaimuki resident Barbara Rezentes’ face as she recounted for the newspaper the hours she spent shopping with her mother at Sears was probably more about the shared experience than the store.

After all, the emporiums will still be operating at Pearlridge and Windward malls as well as on the neighbor islands.

I will miss the Ala Moana Sears because I’ll have to find another convenient place for replacing batteries, both for my watch and my car. But truth be told, Ala Moana isn’t the center of my retail whirl and hasn’t been for a long time. When its consumer circuit orbited farther from my needs and wants, I went elsewhere.

Ala Moana Center has shrewdly become oriented toward tourists who have more readily disposable vacation income or more time to browse aspirationally through Miu Miu or Fendi or Burberry. Attracting visitors from nearby Waikiki brings in more dollars to support retailers that would struggle with cash incoming only from residents.

The center has almost every kind of store and restaurant, including some with island connections. But for every operation with marginal local ties, there are dozens of chains and franchises that can be found worldwide.

The center lacks a strong local flavor, one that says “you’re in Hawaii.”

A handful of jewelry, clothing and knickknack retailers are tucked in its small spaces, but scattered as they are through the wings and various levels, the sense of place is diffused.

My colleague, Erika Engle, sought the public’s suggestions for filling the vast vacancy Sears will leave when it shuts its door sometime next year. I was not surprised to see responses that ranged from Fry’s Electronics and IKEA to other flavors-of-the-present like Target and Trader Joe’s, evidence of the consumer envy television and web advertising can generate.

When I travel, I look for goods unique to the locale, something indigenous that can’t be found elsewhere to remind me of the people and place.

Maybe part of Sears’ space could contain a concentrated taste of Hawaii, stores that display and sell products made in the islands by its businesses, artists and craft persons. I’d bet that visitors would rather have clothing, fabric and decorative items created with Pacific island designs by Tutuvi than a rayon pareau from Brazil. They would likely choose a milo bowl hand-turned by a Hawaii island woodworker or a Helen Iaea painting or an intricate lau hala mat woven by a hui in Honaunau than a pressed-wood elephant from Indonesia. Even edibles like lilikoi butter from Made in Hawaii Foods, Hawaiian Vodka or island-grown chocolates would probably draw visitor eyes and dollars.

Ala Moana would then be able to claim Hawaii for more than geography.

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Cynthia Oi can be reached at coi@staradvertiser.com.