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Longs Drugs Stores plans to open a new store in Hauula in late July, filling a void created by the departure of another drugstore chain in the coastal Windward community between Laie and Kaaawa.
Longs is remodeling a 26,500-square-foot space at Hauula Kai Shopping Center once occupied by Pay’n Save Drug, a chain that went through ownership and brand name changes that included Payless Drug and Rite Aid.
"We look forward to returning pharmacy services to this location in order to serve the community," said Mike DeAngelis, a spokesman for Longs and its parent company, CVS Caremark Corp.
The closest Longs stores are in Kaneohe and Haleiwa, which presented the retailer with a good expansion opportunity. Laie Shopping Center, the next closest community retail center to Hauula, also has no major drugstore.
Hauula Kai Shopping Center is anchored by Tamura’s Market, and is owned by the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.
The Hauula Longs store will be one of roughly a dozen opened in Hawaii since Rhode Island-based CVS bought California-based Longs in 2008 in a $2.7 billion deal that included roughly 500 Longs stores in Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada.
CVS has aggressively added new stores in Hawaii in a rivalry with the nation’s biggest drugstore chain, Walgreen Co., which began opening stores in Hawaii in late 2007.
