It wasn’t the 95-percent-off, everything-must-go sale that brought 57-year-old Ray Feguis to the Ala Moana Center Sears last night. It was the opportunity to say goodbye to an old friend.
"I’m going to miss this place," Feguis said. "This is the only store I come into when my wife comes to shop at the mall."
Feguis was one of a few dozen customers lingering on the mostly empty mall-level sales floor an hour before the shopping center’s iconic anchor tenant closed its doors for good.
The Kailua resident was just 3 years old when the Sears location opened as part of developer Don Graham’s ambitious Ala Moana Center project, a nationally recognized department store heralding an era of rapid development and growth for the new state.
"When we were kids it was a big thing just to get out of the house and come here," Feguis said. "Before Lowe’s and Home Depot and the Internet, this is where you came to buy tools. It doesn’t really seem like a family shopping center anymore."
Last year Sears Holding Corp. struck a deal with Ala Moana Center owner General Growth Properties Inc. to sell the store.
New York retail giant Bloomingdale’s is set to take over the redeveloped space in 2015.
On the lower level of the store Sunday, opportunistic shoppers staked their claims on deeply discounted fixtures, furnishings and decidedly odd odds and ends, from computer monitors ($5) to a one-armed mannequin ($20) to a canvas medical stretcher ($40). (A painting of the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower, in Chicago was still awaiting bid.)
Debbie Imada, 56, of Kaneohe went Saturday night to take advantage of an 80-percent-off sale on fine jewelry. She returned Sunday afternoon to hunt for bargain items that could be used for holiday stocking stuffers.
Like Feguis, Imada said she felt something greater than just the turnover of another Ala Moana retail space.
"It’s special," Imada said. "This store has been here for generations, so there’s a lot of history and familiarity here. It feels like a piece of Hawaii is going away. Sometimes you just want things to stay the way they are."
The day had a valedictory feel for many employees, some of whom will transfer to the other two Sears locations on Oahu. Many will seek other employment.
Longtime managers and sales associates stood dutifully in their now-empty departments, many adorned with lei from fellow employees.
"There’s a lot of emotion," said one employee who had worked at the store for eight years. "I’ll miss the people the most. We all built relationships here that will continue after the store closes. It’s a new beginning for everybody."
Chris DelaCerna, 45, of Kaneohe visited on closing day with her father, Remy Pascua, a former employee who wanted to share his good wishes with former co-workers. DelaCerna’s husband works at the Sears at Windward Mall.
DelaCerna stood to the side as customers carted off clothes racks and shelving units. With a resigned smile she recalled the Sears Family Night parties she attended with her father back when the store and its tightknit staff seemed like an extension of the family.
"A lot has changed and that’s OK," she said. "I think it’s a good thing that so many tourists come to the mall, because that’s how our economy runs. At the same time, for local people, I think it’s sad that we’re losing something that’s been a part of our lives for so long."
