Cash mob gets set to storm Hawaii island thrift store

The cash mob concept hits Hawaii island for what may be the first time Saturday, at Mama’s House Thrift Shop & 12-Step Bookstore in Wai­mea.

Yes, the shop name does sound sort of like the fictitious "Grace L. Ferguson Airline and Storm Door Company" from an old Bob Newhart comedy bit, but the real-life nonprofit-and-retail hybrid is very real and is more than its name implies.

Mama’s House Thrift Shop & 12-Step Bookstore is affiliated with The Pantry, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that includes the Wai­mea Artists’ Guild and other groups.

A cash mob is both a gathering of people and an event, designed to support local business, which is promoted via social media. In a cash mob, people let organizers know they will participate and show up at a predetermined spot with each person prepared to spend $20 to meet three new people and to have fun. Events are coordinated with the businesses so management can prepare for an influx of people.

Cash mobs traditionally sprout organically, from a member or members of a community who want to support a locally owned business. However, Mama’s House is organizing its own cash mob, which Executive Director Beth Mehau sees as not just a way to bring in money to the nonprofit, but as an "education tool, to remind our local community to sustain local business through these economic challenges."

The thrift shop is 40 miles in each direction from the "nearest super-store," she said, and is stocked with "every single thing you can imagine, so before you drive 40 miles, please stop by Mama’s House."

The store’s tag line, which also is sort of a running joke, is, "we sort socks to save lives."

Mama’s House has created 17 jobs for people who sort and "re-purpose" goods for sale, but it also sells furniture on consignment, new artworks, artisanal natural soaps, used books and other items.

"Our first year, all our employees were welfare moms reintegrating into the workforce through First to Work," a state Department of Human Services program for welfare recipients. "We housed three employees and their children as well as 10 men reintegrating from prison," Mehau said. "I’m so passionate about the service aspect."

In addition to new books on recovery from various addictions, the bookstore carries "a full line of recovery-related T-shirts," sales of which raise funds for underage drinking prevention. The shirts are created by a local company and use local slang to convey clean-and-sober messages. Mama’s House also offers meeting space to 12-step groups and other community service providers.

Mama’s House is in the industrial complex at 64-1013 Mamalahoa Highway past NAPA Auto Parts.

"We’re in the heart of Wai­mea — we are the heart of Wai­mea," Mehau said.

Cash mob events typically are followed by an after-mob, or a gathering at a nearby, locally owned eatery. In this case it will be from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Solimene’s Restaurant, with which Food Network-viewing readers may be familiar because of Philip "Ippy" Aiona, a leading contestant on "The Next Food Network Star." He is executive chef of the Italian restaurant in Wai­mea Shopping Center owned by his mother.

On Oahu at least two cash mobs have formed to support local businesses.

Cash Mob Hawaii is believed to be the first one, and JoAnn Taira Cheung is credited by well-known social media figure Neenz Faleafine as being the founder and organizer of the first event.

Cheung works full time at Kapiolani Medical Center "but when I got involved with Cash Mob, it was because of my small business as a health and fitness coach," she said.

She linked up with a national cash mob group "mostly to get guidance and a little recognition for Hawaii."

"They were very excited to have us onboard, and I was really excited to get something going," Cheung said.

She chose The Source Natural Foods in Kailua for the first cash mob event "partly because they’ve been around over 25 years and Whole Foods was going to come in a few weeks. I wanted The Source to know the community supports them," Cheung said.

"We look at businesses that give back to the community and they educate the public about good, healthy alternatives," she said. The cash mob to support Mama’s House "sounds like a great cause," she said. In March, Oahu participants first gathered at Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop, also in Kailua, walked to The Source, shopped and regrouped at Agnes’ for refreshments and networking.

The other Oahu group is Hawaii Cash Mob, formed by Danielle Scherman and Aya Nishihara. Its next event is from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Cocojor Emporium and Spaw for Dogs at 975 Kapiolani Blvd.

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.