Hilo Hattie will downsize store at Ala Moana

Local retailer Hilo Hattie, popular among tourists for its aloha shirts and Hawaii souvenirs, is closing its Ala Moana Center location on the makai side of the mall and moving to the mauka side, where it will focus more on local customers.

The existing 8,351-square-foot street-level Ala Moana store near Old Navy will close April 30. The company will reopen May 1 at a 1,920-square-foot prototype Hilo Hattie Kamaaina Collection outlet on the opposite end of the mall adjacent to Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

The new store, one-quarter the size of the existing location, will replace Pitter Patter, a children’s shoes, apparel and accessories business.

Hilo Hattie has been negotiating for months with mall owner General Growth Properties Inc. to move to another location before its lease expires at the end of April.

"We’re going to carry the same categories … but we’re going to be very laser-focused on the products we know appeal to the kama- aina market and that are very attractive to the visitor industry," said Mark Storfer, Hilo Hattie’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. "The mauka side of the mall near CenterStage has 10 times the foot traffic than we had on the makai side. We’re projecting double the sales per square foot in our new Kamaaina Collection store as we did in our current store."

Hilo Hattie’s 14 full- and part-time workers will be reassigned to the new store and its flagship 30,000-square-foot location on Nimitz Highway. Maui Divers Jewelry will run a concession within the new store.

Products will primarily include island apparel with a "distinct focus on our kamaaina, or local style," as well as home decor, bath and beauty products, and gourmet food, the company said.

"Many of the products we’re carrying are exclusive to Hilo Hattie," Storfer said, adding that about 90 percent of its products will be locally made. "We have new concepts we’re going to start rolling out."

General Growth wouldn’t disclose the tenant that will fill the space that Hilo Hattie has occupied for more than 15 years.

The company’s Ala Moana store generates 40 percent of its business from local residents. That is estimated to increase to 60 percent at the new location.

Ellyse Onishi, co-owner of Pitter Patter, which opened at Ala Moana nearly two years ago, found out just last week that she will be forced to close her main store and lay off its three employees. The business also opened in Windward Mall in September.

"We don’t have anywhere to go," she said. "It’s a tough hit for us because we just started out, but that’s business. We just established a good clientele. We have a lot of repeat customers; we were getting going. I just have to roll with it and hope that something comes along."