The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on Hawaii island will celebrate its 50th anniversary Friday.
The hotel, built by Laurance Rockefeller for $15 million on Kauna‘oa Bay, opened July 24, 1965.
The property’s owner, Seibu Holdings, parent company of Prince Resorts, is celebrating with a host of anniversary-related festivities. Craig Anderson, Mauna Kea’s vice president of operations, said events teed off in December with the 41st annual Mauna Kea Pro-Am and will continue throughout 2015 with an employee-giving campaign, “50 Acts of Aloha.”
On Friday as many as 400 guests and local residents are expected to attend a grand celebration gala, which will include fireworks and an oceanfront orchid drop with 50,000 blooms.
Bath products chain expanding to Kaneohe
Bath & Body Works’ selections of soaps, home fragrances, candles and other products will become available at Windward Mall in November.
The 3,279-square-foot store will be on the lower level of the mall at the Center Court area.
The expansion represents the national chain’s third store on Oahu. “We are constantly looking for new ways to enhance our shopping, dining and entertainment options for shoppers, and could not be more excited to welcome Bath & Body Works to our Windward Mall ohana,” said Cesar Topacio, general manager, in a statement.
Additionally, mall officials announced a tentative opening date for Big City Diner. The popular local restaurant chain plans to open Sept. 21, serving breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the first month.
The 5,411-square-foot restaurant, taking over the former IHOP space, later will expand its hours of operation. “Being a local boy who was born and raised on the Windward side, I am very excited to be bringing our 100 percent locally owned and operated family restaurant and bar to Windward Mall,” said Lane Muraoka, Big City Diner president.
Barbershop franchise comes to Kapolei
A new men’s styling option will open Aug. 1 in the Halekuai Shopping Center in Kapolei.
The first Hawaii location of The Barbershop, a Wisconsin-based franchise operation, will offer guests a 55-inch flat-panel TV in the waiting area, free roasted peanuts, coffee and water. Located at 563 Farrington Highway in Suite 107, the shop will offer individual customer treatment booths that also include TV screens and other unique features. Grand-opening haircut prices start at $12, while regular haircut prices will start at $16. Other services offered include beard and mustache trimming, gray blending, etching and cornrow services.
“We have created a truly compelling experience for men by providing high-quality salon services with a unique customer focus, all in a warm friendly atmosphere,” said Hawaii franchisee Brian Yonehara in a statement.
PayPal shares rise on first day of trading
NEW YORK >> PayPal shares jumped in its first day as a separate and publicly traded company as the firm outlined plans to capitalize on the rise of mobile payments and the growing digitization of money.
The payments system company officially split with eBay Inc. on Friday, 10 months after they announced that they were going their separate ways.
PayPal processed $235 billion in total payment volume last year and logged revenue of about $8 billion. It plans to grow market share in mobile and online payments as well as expand in areas like in-store payments.
Trading on the Nasdaq under the stock ticker “PYPL,” shares jumped $2.08, or 5.4 percent, to $40.47 Monday.
U.S. firms less optimistic about future sales
WASHINGTON >> U.S. businesses’ outlook on sales in the coming months has darkened after sales growth slowed in the second quarter, according to a survey released Monday.
More firms also expect to cut back on their investment in equipment and buildings in the July-September quarter, the survey found. However, hiring and wage and salary increases are likely to continue at about the same pace in the third quarter as they did in the previous three months, according to the National Association for Business Economics.
ON THE MOVE
Honolulu Property Management has announced Joaquin Figueroa as the new property manager. He is a Realtor-associate and has many years of experience in sales and customer-facing roles, including hotel marketing and timeshares. He also managed his own promotional and marketing agency in Mexico.
OpTerra Energy Services has announced Stacey Kawano as its optimization specialist. Before joining the company, she was vice president of customer service for a solar contractor, working closely with operations and sales teams to ensure the success of commercial and residential projects.
Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers has announced that Fannie Cline has joined its team as a broker-in-charge on Oahu. She previously served as an assistant broker as well as managed the office of 60 agents and staff at Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. Cline also worked for Panasonic Corp. in Japan, various wineries in Northern California and the Marriott Corp. in Hawaii.
