Hawaii grew up with Sears store

Hawaii got a shock late last week with the news that Sears would be closing its doors in Ala Moana Center. The real stunner is not that the premier shopping emporium is losing an anchor tenant, it’s that it’s Sears, which occupies an important place in Hawaii’s retail and cultural history.

Consider: It was Sears Roebuck & Co. (then located on Beretania Street) that installed Hawaii’s first two-way escalator in 1947. Riding up and down was one of the childhood thrills of the day.

And of course it was Sears that was the principal anchor tenant for Ala Moana’s grand opening in 1959. It’s one of the relatively few remaining tenants that caters almost exclusively to local shoppers — which is another reason its pending closing, expected to happen in about a year, feels like the end of an era.

Even before its move to Ala Moana, Sears’ arrival on Beretania Street was a sign of urban Honolulu’s growth. The store launched a shift in retailing, too, with customers turning increasingly away from the merchants downtown — largely family-operated businesses — and toward department-store shopping with its blend of mainland merchandise and island wear.

Nationally, the company’s 19th-century beginnings as a mail-order service filled a niche for a rapidly expanding America. Its familiar catalogs enabled residents in far-flung towns to meet needs for a full range of household supplies, beyond what the local general store could provide. The first of its brick-and-mortar stores went up in Chicago 87 years ago, the chain expanding into more cities and finally into suburban malls through the 1970s.

Shopping-mall marketing became such a big part of Sears’ success that the company spun off a subsidiary to develop more of these centers. Until the 1980s, Sears — which had diversified into real estate, insurance, manufacturing and other niches — remained the largest U.S. retailer.

As the marketplace evolved further — online sales, big-box retailing and outlet stores adding to the competitive mix — Sears acquired Kmart stores. Sears used the merger to launch grocery and cosmetic lines at some mainland stores, a trend that didn’t happen here.

The expansion wasn’t enough to insulate the company from all the effects of the economic downturn, however, and when the holiday shopping season fell short of expectations, Sears announced plans to close 89 underperforming stores.

Ala Moana’s owner, General Growth Properties, will buy Sears’ lease for $250 million and spend a similar sum in the redevelopment. This suggests that the replacement shops will generate higher rents to offset that investment, and likely charging higher prices than Sears.

The closure is noteworthy to everyone on Oahu, particularly as a merchant with prices set at levels working families found affordable. That’s a loss in the wake of a recession that has done damage to household earning power.

It’s very worrisome to its employees, not to mention the 20 or so mostly local vendors that provide a range of side services within the store, everything from tax preparation to tuxedo rentals. Ideally the redevelopment of the property may shake out other opportunities for these businesses.

Hawaii will have to adapt to many such upheavals in the coming years as the marketplace continues to readjust and reinvent itself. But few of the retail shakeups will feel quite as jarring as this one. Ala Moana just won’t look the same.