Kiosk to help in funding crater’s operating costs

New Jersey visitor John Agnew and his wife, Lisa, successfully ascended all 560 feet of the Diamond Head State Monument on Monday and then stopped at the base of the monument to buy a T-shirt and get an official certificate from the iconic site’s newly opened interpretive kiosk and gift shop.

"The hike was phenomenal and this kiosk is just great," said John Agnew of Northfield, N.J. "We’ll be taking stuff home to show the kids."

The couple and other visitors finally can shop at the monument thanks to a 3-year lease and memorandum of understanding between the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the nonprofit Pacific Historic Parks. The merchandising agreement allows Pacific Historic Parks to open the monument’s first interpretive kiosk and gift shop at the base of the trail inside the crater, said Curt Cottrell, assistant administrator for DLNR’s division of state parks.

Pacific Historic Parks, which plans to officially open the kiosk Tuesday, will pay the state a percentage of gross sales ranging from 4 to 12 percent and has pledged that the proceeds after operating expenses will go back into the monument, Cottrell said. A logo exemplifying Leahi will represent the new partnership, which will eventually include an online store, he said.

"We are big on donating, so shopping somewhere like this makes a big difference to us," said Lisa Agnew, who can return home feeling good about participating in the "been there, done that, got the T-shirt" cycle.

Cottrell is hoping spending by visitors like the Agnews will generate millions in additional revenue for the state, which has been grappling with such limited resources that it toyed with closing parks during the 2009 downturn.

"We’ve got a budget of $8 million for 67 parks, waysides and monuments. That’s the same budget that we had in 1993 when we had fewer sites to maintain. If you adjusted that figure for inflation, we’d need about $12 million just to get us back to where we were," he said.

Cottrell said that the state hopes to capitalize on demand for merchandise from the approximately 3,000 visitors a day who flock by foot, car, bus or trolley to experience the famous crater.

"Visitors have been expressing interest for years in purchasing souvenirs and memorabilia of their experience to this world-renowned destination," said Bruce Coppa, chief of staff for Gov. Neil Abercrombie. "The partnership between DLNR’s Division of State Parks and Pacific Historic Parks responds to this desire and provides visitors to Diamond Head with enhanced interpretive services and new, quality merchandise."

Coppa is expected to represent Abercrombie at the kiosk’s dedication Tuesday.

Cottrell said it’s not clear how much money the kiosk and gift shop will generate.

"We don’t know how much this is worth yet, but we think it could be substantial," Cottrell said. "Visitors spend $1.3 million just on annual tickets to Diamond Head, and that funds more than an eighth of our entire state parks budget. We know that there is demand for merchandise because we’ve been seeing unauthorized sellers for years. We hope to put a stop to that forever by offering our own high-quality merchandise."

Since a soft opening last month, the kiosk’s income stream has been about $1,700 a day, Cottrell said.

"They are already covering their costs. They haven’t done any advertising and only have about 40 percent of their merchandise out," he said. "Based on that and growth at Diamond Head, we think that they’ll see a pretty healthy return and everybody will win." 

Gene Caliwag, president and CEO of Pacific Historic Parks, said the nonprofit takes in about $5 million in gross sales annually at its other partner sites, which include the WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument at Pearl Harbor, American Memorial Park on Sai­pan, War in the Pacific National Historical Park on Guam, and Kalau­papa National Historical Park on Molo­kai.

"Partnerships like these are important because they provide a creative way to manage a system that has experienced declining operating budgets," Cali­wag said. "Diamond Head is one of our most iconic and popular monuments, but the cost and effort to maintain it is tremendous. We’ll help the park generate revenue so that they can continue to run operations. Ultimately, we’ll probably help the park services build an expanded visitor center — one that will fulfill their mission and ours."