CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Walgreens at the Koko Marina Shopping Center in Hawaii Kai will welcome its first customers as early as May when it opens at the site formerly occupied by Foodland.
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Walgreen Co. plans to open its 12th Hawaii store in the former Foodland site at Koko Marina Shopping Center as early as May.
The Deerfield, Ill.-based drugstore chain said its latest store in Hawaii Kai — met with community opposition when locally owned Foodland lost its lease — will be the only Walgreens in Hawaii to offer locally grown produce and groceries.
Foodland, Hawaii Kai’s first supermarket when it opened in 1963, closed in July after failing to renegotiate its lease with landlord Koko Marina Holdings LLC, based in California.
Petco, Walgreen’s subtenant, will occupy a little more than half of the roughly 33,000-square-foot store, Walgreen spokesman Robert Elfinger confirmed. The drugstore expects to hire between 25 and 30 employees, he said.
Koko Marina owner Abraham Keh said the drugstore was slated to open in January, but construction was “underestimated” and Foodland stayed “longer than anticipated.”
The center’s asset manager, Scott Hayashi, said Petco is seeking to open around the same time as Walgreens.
“The landlord is excited to have Walgreens as well as Petco,” Hayashi said. “We’re excited about them being an active part of the community, offering products that the community will be pleased with. The deal was one that the landlord felt comfortable with … although we tried as best we could to keep Foodland and even help them try to work with Walgreens to be a subtenant.”
In addition, Walgreen is building a Wahiawa store at the former Servco Pacific Inc. dealership on the corner of Olive Street and Kamehameha Highway, slated to open in late spring or summer. Another Honolulu site at Pensacola and Beretania streets will open in the fall.
