ABC opens second store at Hilton Hawaiian
ABC Stores has opened a second outlet at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Resort & Spa.
The ground-level store is in the Tapa Tower. It operates another store at the hotel’s Rainbow Bazaar.
The convenience store chain, which first opened in 1964, now has 79 locations on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii island, Guam, Saipan and Las Vegas.
Big Isle hotel plants Kona coffee trees
The Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa has planted 40 Kona coffee tree seedlings to mark the 200th anniversary of Kona coffee.
The Kona Pypica varietal seeds were locally grown in Holualoa, and the hotel expects the coffee "cherries" to develop by late August. The cherries will later be harvested, and the beans inside will be roasted.
"We wanted the presence of Kona coffee trees as part of our garden of tropical Hawaiian plants so we could educate our guests, who have asked us where they could see a coffee plantation near the resort," said Bill Countryman, general manager, in a statement. "While Kona coffee is widely grown in higher elevation, the coffee grown at Waikoloa Beach Marriott is a beach variety, made to withstand the coastal elements and weather. It is, however, still exceptional in taste."
Hotel executive sous-chef Jayson Kanekoa has created a House Grown Arabica Coffee Bean Rub for steaks served on-property.
Isle health centers could get $1.1M in aid
Fourteen community health centers in Hawaii could get federal grants of more than $1.1 million to help uninsured residents enroll in health insurance as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it has made $150 million available to community health centers nationwide. The department estimates the state’s community health centers care for 144,427 residents, many of whom are uninsured.
Sony profitable on cheap yen, higher sales
TOKYO » Sony Corp. is back in the black for its fiscal fourth quarter, recording a ¥93.9 billion ($948 million) profit, with big help from a weaker yen that boosts overseas earnings. The Japanese electronics and entertainment company also dragged itself back to profit for the fiscal year ended March 31, following four straight years of red ink.
It reported Thursday annual earnings of ¥43 billion ($434 million), a reversal from a loss of ¥457 billion ($5.7 billion) the previous year — the worst in the company’s nearly seven-decade history. Sony expects the recovery to continue, and projected a ¥50 billion ($505 million) profit for the fiscal year through March 2014, up 16 percent.
A weak yen helps Japanese exporters, and the dollar has gained 20 percent against the yen in recent months.
Sales rose 8 percent to ¥1.7 trillion ($17 billion), mainly from a favorable currency rate.
30-year mortgage rate rises to 3.42 percent
WASHINGTON >> Average U.S. mortgage rates rose this week but remained near historic lows. Cheaper mortgages have encouraged more home buying and refinancing. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for the 30-year fixed mortgage edged up to 3.42 percent from 3.35 percent last week. That’s still near the average of 3.31 percent reached in November, the lowest on records dating to 1971.
The average on the 15-year fixed-rate loan rose to 2.61 percent from 2.56 percent last week, which was the lowest on records going back to 1991.
Low mortgage rates have buttressed the housing recovery that began last year. Home sales and construction are up from a year ago, and prices are rising in most U.S. markets.
On the Move
Prudential Locations has announced Linh DePledge as the new vice president of marketing. She has more than 20 years of sales and marketing experience specializing in targeted acquisition and retention strategy. Her experience also includes working in global and local companies.
Servco Pacific has promoted Eric Clark to senior vice president. He was previously vice president of corporate development at Servco’s corporate headquarters in Honolulu. Clark joined the company
in 2001 as director of corporate development.
The Queen’s Medical Center has named Lydia Kumasaka as director of nursing at QMC-West Oahu. She has 30 years of experience in the health care industry and was manager of the pain and palliative care department of the Queen’s Medical Center.
