Tamura Enterprises Inc. will expand its full-service grocery store chain to the old Barbers Point Navy Commissary on Enterprise Avenue before the end of the year, giving it three grocery stores in addition to its three wine and spirits stores.

"We just opened the Aiea wine store in February," said Glenn Tamura, president, but jumped at the opportunity to open in the old commissary location that closed in April.

Tamura’s Wahiawa supermarket will remain the largest in the company at about 25,000 square feet, but the roughly 13,000-square-foot Kalaeloa Tamura’s will be larger than the Hauula store, which is between 11,000 and 12,000 square feet, he said.

Tamura’s Kalaeloa will be a full-service grocery store, selling general groceries, meat, produce, frozen foods, liquor "and poke — because that’s what we’re known for," he said.

But wow, all the way out in Kalaeloa?

"I have one on the Windward side, I have one in Wahiawa, this would be the only place I don’t have alcohol or grocery," said Tamura. In addition to Aiea, Tamura’s Fine Wines & Liquors locations are at 3496 Waialae Ave. in Kaimuki and in the Aikahi Park Shopping Center in Kailua.

The surrounding population is sufficient to make the business sustainable, he figures, given the proximity of residents in Ewa Beach and Kapolei and workers in Campbell Industrial Park. "Everything is five minutes away," he said. Costco is also about five minutes away, "but our supermarkets have a more local flair, more Filipino foods, more ethnic (items)," he said.

The former commissary was left in almost turnkey condition. "They left all the equipment," he said, which will enable a relatively quick opening.

Tamura expects to hire about 50 full- and part-time employees for the store, which will likely have a soft opening in a couple of months’ time. "I’m going to open without the liquor," he said, but will probably have a larger grand opening or "re-grand opening" when the liquor license is obtained, perhaps in three to four months.

Ad folks getting pitched on Hawaii

Hawaii is hosting hundreds of ad folk as the American Advertising Federation Western Region Conference began yesterday. The AAF chapters whose members are spending their days in the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel are from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming and, of course, Hawaii.

The conference ends tomorrow, and the official website includes a link for a downloadable brochure for Aloha Week festivities — which delegates can attend after each day’s concurrent seminars and district meetings have concluded.

Hawaii spa high on T+L global list

The spa at Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the Big Island is No. 6 in the world, according to Travel + Leisure magazine’s World’s Best Spas list for 2010.

The spa naturally tops the top-five-in-Hawaii list, as posted online, followed by spas at the Grand Wailea Maui, Four Seasons Maui at Wailea, Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island and Maui’s Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. The magazine’s September issue hits the street today.