Don’t overlook small businesses

As much of urban Honolulu redevelops in the coming decades, there’s been a lot of concern that the new communities include housing for people at the lower ends of the income scale as well as for those ready to move into posh condominiums. There’s good reason for that concern, given Honolulu’s chronic shortage of affordable housing units.

But the cost of places to live is only part of the urban-planning picture. Honolulu must make sure its business zones accommodate the mom-and-pops and a range of other small local businesses in the new city as well.

A microcosm of this issue is seen with the 18 vendors who work in the small shops and booths tucked into the larger Sears retail space at Ala Moana Center. With the closure of this Sears location on Sunday, these businesses, most of them small franchises or isle-based companies, will shut down as well.

Some may be able to find a spot at other Sears locations, and hope springs eternal that Ala Moana’s owner, General Growth Properties, will find some way to work in some smaller businesses along with the national and global brands that have populated that mall in the last decade or so.

But the inescapable observation is that Ala Moana could lose much of its homegrown appeal. The shift to more upscale retailing at Ala Moana means that there simply will be less space that can be leased at small shopowners’ price point.

This is not the only place where the family- and single-owner businesses are threatened. Kakaako — once a hodgepodge of auto-repair shops, grocerettes, small offices and hole-in-the-wall eateries — is in the long process of becoming gentrified. Condominiums have started to rise, and long-time residents are wondering what will happen to their favorite mechanic or plate-lunch place.

There is some encouragement to be drawn from assurances by the developers. The Howard Hughes Corp. and Kamehameha Schools, for example, are drawing up the blueprints for large pieces of Kakaako, and their executives have said keeping a local brand is part of the plan.

Case in point: There’s the warehouse Kamehameha has dubbed A Pinch of Salt (named in honor of the saltmaking that went on at the waterfront in the old days), a mix of boutique retailers and restaurants. Area structures largely are being renovated and repurposed rather than replaced, planners said, and discussions about keeping many of the existing tenants in place are ongoing.

That’s good to hear. Hawaii shoppers like a healthy serving of familiarity with more exotic offerings. It’s hard to imagine how a live-work-play community, as Kakaako has been pitched, can give residents that "at-home" feeling otherwise.

Across the country, mom-and-pop businesses have been under siege from the big-box retailer and local branches of national companies for decades. Some have been fighting back with the great equalizer known as the Internet, finding a larger market for their wares and hedging their business risk.

But there needs to be a home for small businesses in our neighborhoods as well. In the face-to-face customer exchange that happens in the corner snack bar or store, a sense of community can build.

Most local businesses won’t quite measure up to the fictional bar in "Cheers." But there’s at least a chance somebody might know your name, and that should count for a lot.