Local subscription box service Hello Makana, sending local snacks and other made-in-Hawaii goodies to expats and others since 2012, has been purchased by Na Mea Hawai’i for undisclosed terms.

"This was a natural partnership between two complementary businesses who care about local growers and producers," said Kilikina Mahi in a news release. She and business partner Wei Fang started the company based on similar life experiences while away from home.

In addition to specially selected local products, Fang and Mahi would include the stories of the people and places behind each product to send to recipients.

Maile Meyer, founder of Na Mea Hawai’i at Ward Warehouse, as well as its predecessor, Native Books & Beautiful things, always has focused on "the people who make things right here in Hawaii nei," she said in a statement. "When we support our smallest producers, the increments are real, this is community-based economic development."

Na Mea manager Lisa Marciel Izuta also is a partner in Hello Makana, who said "combining forces … makes sense," given the synergy of the online presence with a physical store.

Founders Mahi and Fang will remain actively involved in Hello Makana for the next two years.

Hello Makana subscription boxes start at $28 a month.

China’s economic slowdown reverberating

From Australia to Zambia, Chile to Indonesia, the pain of China’s sharp economic slowdown is being felt in the form of depressed commodity prices, elevated unemployment and shrunken home prices in towns that once thrived from supplying materials to Chinese factories.

China’s deceleration isn’t surprising, but the extent of collateral damage is raising fears of a global recession.

Noting that the harm from China’s woes has been worse than expected, the International Monetary Fund has downgraded its outlook for worldwide growth this year to 3.1 percent, the slowest since the recession year of 2009.

Rite Aid adds drug analysis to gene tests

Rite Aid is giving patients a chance to peek over their doctor’s shoulder with genetic tests that help determine the effectiveness of some prescriptions.

The drugstore chain said Thursday that it is selling Harmonyx testing kits at nearly all of its stores. The kits cost between $49 and $89 without a prescription, and customers can use them to learn more about the effectiveness of medicines for cardiac conditions, cholesterol and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

VW offers some employees amnesty

FRANKFURT, Germany » Volkswagen is telling nonmanagerial employees they can come forward with information about how the company cheated on U.S. emissions tests and they won’t be fired.

Volkswagen brand manager Herbert Diess told staff the company won’t seek damages or fire employees for what they might reveal. Workers could be transferred to other duties, however, and the company stressed it cannot get anyone off the hook for ongoing criminal probes.

ON THE MOVE

The Queen’s Medical Center has named Doris Warner director of Trauma and Outreach Services. Warner was previously a trauma program manager at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, a Level I Regional Resource Trauma Center and Spinal Cord Injury Center in Philadelphia.

Aqua-Aston Hospitality has named Janice Wakatsuki senior vice president of human resources. Her responsibilities include overseeing the administration of employee and labor relations as well as benefits, compensation and recruitment for the corporate office and the properties that the resort manages on the mainland and in Hawaii. Wakatsuki has more than 30 years’ experience and previously served as a corporate director of human resources for Outrigger Enterprises.

SHIP AHOY!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures:

HONOLULU HARBOR

KALAELOA BARBERS POINT HARBOR