Hilo Hattie, the Hawaii retailer popular for its aloha shirts and souvenirs, is negotiating with the owner of Ala Moana Center to move to another location in the mall before its lease ends at the end of April.

Mark Storfer, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Hilo Hattie, said if those talks are unsuccessful or if the retailer doesn’t extend its lease, it would close the store that has been in the mall for 15 years.

"We’re committed to doing what we have to do to maintain a presence in Ala Moana Center," Storfer said Monday.

The company has been in negotiations with mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. for two months, he said.

"If we haven’t renewed our lease by (the end of April) or found a replacement space with uninterrupted service, we will be reassigning our staff to our Nimitz store. We’ve assured all staff members they’ll have continued employment with Hilo Hattie."

Storfer said there are about 14 full- and part-time employees at the Ala Moana store, which is the smallest of the seven in the chain at 8,351 square feet. The flagship Nimitz Highway store is more than 30,000 square feet.

Sales at the Ala Moana store were up 11 percent in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, from the prior year, and up about 13 percent since then, Storfer said.

Companywide, sales were up 23 percent in the year ended Sept. 30, he said.

General Growth already has shown Hilo Hattie spaces in the mall, but Storfer said he cannot disclose those locations.

"There are premium locations in the mall, and ours isn’t one of them," he said about the store’s present location on the street level of the parking garage on the makai side of the mall. "There have been several neighbors over the years that have gone in and out, and that really hasn’t helped the stability of that part of the mall for us."

Storfer said the company, which has 250 employees overall, is looking to expand as early as this year on either Oahu or the neighbor islands.

Hilo Hattie, which emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization on Oct. 4, 2009, after a year in bankruptcy, has seven stores. Besides the Nimitz Highway and Ala Moana Center locations, it has two on Hawaii island (one in Kona and one in Hilo), two on Maui (one in Kihei and one in Lahaina) and one in Lihue, Kauai.

During bankruptcy the company closed its San Diego and Orange County, Calif., stores. It also shut down its Sand Island distribution center and consolidated it into corporate headquarters on Nimitz. Hilo Hattie laid off 31 people during the closures.

Hilo Hattie’s parent company, Pomare Ltd., was purchased out of bankruptcy by Donald Kang, who owns a local aloha wear manufacturer — Royal Hawaiian Creations — that was once Hilo Hattie’s largest unsecured creditor. Federal Bankruptcy Court required that Kang invest $3 million in capital before approving the exchange of shares in which he acquired 100 percent of the company from Nevada-based TOC Inc.

"It’s been a challenging economy, but in the last six months to a year, we’ve seen noticeable increases in both visitor arrivals on all islands, as well as our campaign to attract more kamaaina and military customers," Storfer said.

Since emerging from bankruptcy, Storfer said, Hilo Hattie has upgraded the quality of its apparel and instituted a campaign to buy local.

"Our prior ownership was purchasing a lot of products offshore," he said.