A seafood department featuring poke, a delicatessen geared toward local-style food, and storewide "value prices" are keeping customers coming back to the family-owned Tamura Supermarket in Waianae.
It was that type of demand in the first quarter that saw the state’s supermarkets outpace 15 other sectors and produce the largest percentage increase in debit and credit card sales, according to the First Hawaiian Bank Business Activity Report.
Supermarket card sales at businesses open at least a year jumped 16.7 percent during the quarter and helped overall card sales rise 4.6 percent during the period, according to the report due to be released Sunday. The increase marked the 21st consecutive quarter of overall growth dating back to when the bank began producing its reports at the start of 2010.
"I feel good about where we are at now. The economy is doing well," said Bob Harrison, chairman, president and CEO of First Hawaiian. "We’ve had good strong growth for a long time, and I know it won’t continue forever but I don’t see any warning signs on the horizon currently. You never have an unbroken record of increases in the economy. There will be somes ups and downs, but we’re enjoying a good period right now of steady growth."
The 16,000-square-foot Tamura Supermarket, which caters to customers primarily from Nanakuli to Makaha, has been in business since 1964 and competes against Sack N Save, Longs Drugs, The Waianae Store and Costco in nearby Kapolei.
"Our core customer is driven into our store based on our value offerings, so as the economy gets better, it provides us an opportunity to offer a wider variety of products that they would normally seek out in a higher-end store like a Whole Foods or a Down to Earth," said Charlie Gustafson, vice president of operations and general manager of Tamura Supermarket. "We try to provide a little more variety when the economy is better. When there’s a downturn in the economy, the community knows we’ll be a provider for them of the core items they need because we’re a value-priced store. That will always be our trademark."
Gustafson said he’s noticed that more customers are turning to plastic rather than checks when making purchases.
"Especially for the debit (card) side, it’s trending up because people find it more convenient to use than writing a personal check, which is more cumbersome," he said. "Getting a check out when there’s people behind you slows things down. People are subconscious of that, and when you pull out a debit card and slide it, your transaction is done and you’re out the door."
First Hawaiian, the largest bank in Hawaii with $18.1 billion in assets, is able to monitor broad economic activity in the state through its card processing services.
The bank is the largest local processor of debit and credit card transactions in the state and has nearly 7,000 merchants on its network, with most of those in Hawaii.
"For the first quarter, we are seeing sectors posting double-digit increases that are more typical of spending done by residents," said Keith Nagata, First Hawaiian senior vice president and Business Services Division manager.
Besides supermarkets, convenience stores (up 15.8 percent), utilities and communications (up 15.6 percent) and home furnishing (up 13.3 percent) all had strong performances during the first quarter while retail (down 2.8 percent), travel agencies (down 5 percent) and medical services (down 9.2 percent) were the only sectors in the red.
Harrison said the disparity between the increases in card spending in supermarkets and convenience stores versus the downturn in retail spending could stem from the changing purchasing habits of consumers.
"We’re really seeing in our card spending this other side of the coin, the trend of online shopping," he said. "Supermarkets and convenience stores you do in person; there hasn’t been too much of a trend for online food shopping. But for the rest of retail, online shopping is more prevalent. It’s not that people are spending less, but they are doing less retail in person and more online."
The home furnishing sector’s double-digit increase gives credence that the housing market continues to be strong in Hawaii.
"Some of that has to do with the condominiums being delivered to their owners," Harrison said. "You’re seeing construction around town, and I think toward the end of this year, the units are coming out; and I expect to see continued strength in that area. Most people don’t do shopping for home furnishings online because of the size and the shipping costs."
Restaurant transactions also had a solid quarter with an 8.1 percent increase in card sales.
"We’ll see some strength in restaurants through the rest of the year," Harrison said. "The tourism economy is still doing well."
