Foodland venture thrives at Ala Moana

Foodland Super Market Ltd.’s year-ago investment in an upscale grocery store at Ala Moana Center is paying off for Hawaii’s oldest grocery chain.

One of the mall’s original tenants in 1959, Foodland left the mall in 2014 due to higher rents that ultimately led executives to decide not to renew its lease.

Since returning last year as Foodland Farms, a 47,000-square-foot supermarket with hundreds of prepared and made-to-order foods and a 100-seat eating area on the ground level near Piikoi Street, the fam­ily-run business has seen sales and customers double and the average size of transactions increase by nearly 70 percent, said Jenai Wall, Foodland chairwoman and CEO. The store is three times the size of the old Ala Moana location.

“It is our highest-trafficked location of any of our Foodland stores,” Wall said. “It’s been fun because the business has continued to grow, which has been exciting for us. It’s paid off in both sales and traffic but also in exposing our customers to a new type of store and also showing them that we, as a local company, are able to deliver this kind of store to them that they may not have experienced in Hawaii before.”

Wall, who describes the move as “giving birth to a whole new concept,” said the mix of customers was surprising, with locals accounting for 60 percent of sales.

Foodland’s flagship location is the only supermarket in Ala Moana Center. “One of the major challenges people needed to overcome was the idea of going grocery shopping at the mall,” Wall said.

The store offers a range of products typically not found in grocery stores, including shave ice and a full wine bar.

“It is a concept that we would like to take elsewhere in the right location,” Wall said, adding that the company is “always looking” at other areas on Oahu and the neighbor islands to expand. “We really wanted to provide our customers with a whole new grocery shopping experience. We felt people here were hungry for that.”

Kailua resident Christiane Rodrigues, who was shopping at Foodland on Thursday, said, “It’s amazing. You can find everything you want, like produce. You can make your own plates, like Whole Foods style, and the prices are good. We wish the Foodland in Kailua would be like this, too. We would go every day.”

The Ala Moana Foodland has 183 employees, roughly three times the number of employees at the old Ala Moana location.

When asked about competition with Whole Foods and Target soon to open nearby, Wall said, “It is a lot of competition. While sure, in a perfect world we wish there was no competition, I also believe competitors make us better and challenge us to find ways to serve our customers better. All of us are trying to win our customers over and build loyalty by what we’re offering.”

Jarel Askew, from Sacramento, Calif. who was shopping for organic produce Thursday, said the store is “on par” with retail giants like Whole Foods.

“I shop at Whole Foods all the time. I wouldn’t say it’s better, but I would say it’s on par,” said Askew, a 24-year-old MMA fighter who was in town for a fight Saturday. “Some people go to Whole Foods and be like, ‘There’s nothing for me here,’ whereas some people might come to Foodland and be like, ‘Well, at least they have candy.’ This could appeal to both crowds better. I like it. When I go to grocery stores, if it doesn’t look like this, I usually leave.”

The Ala Moana store has a full industrial kitchen so the company can sell prepared food made daily, which has become a popular concept for retailers as customers look for more convenience.

“What we would all agree on is that the concept really works nicely in terms of attracting a customer and responding to how our customers want to eat and shop today. We really wanted it to be a gathering place for people,” Wall said. “In our industry we’re always competing, and we always are faced with new competition. Over the years we had Costco, then Whole Foods, Target and Walmart, so I think it’s really important that we understand who we are and what our strengths are and make sure we deliver those things to our customers exceptionally well.”

The pending Amazon purchase of Whole Foods is “very interesting,” she added. “Things are going to continue to change in the industry. One of the messages it does say is Amazon, by investing in brick-and-mortar stores, is saying that the customer is going to want to continue to come to grocery stores. They cannot move everything online.”