53-360 Kamehameha Highway; 237-7017. Open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily except Sundays, when closing time is 6 p.m.
“Any mom-and-pop store, you gotta get your niche, and once you have your niche you can survive the competition.”
That’s Patrick Ching talking — he’s co-owner with his brother Carlton of Ching’s Punaluu Store.
The niche he’s found is pupu-type food available all day — poke bowls, smoked meats, Korean fried chicken, pastele, and best-selling desserts of butter mochi and bread pudding. It’s all made in-house or brought in from vendors in the community.
Cluttered and colorful, Ching’s is a popular provisioning stop for people headed around the island. It sells sundries, fishing gear, ice, even a 99-cent “local-style cooler” — a cardboard box lined with trash bags — for those who forgot the ice chest at home.
A Japanese tour bus stops by daily, Patrick said, sometimes leaving with 100 poke bowls.
The store has survived and thrived since it was opened in 1935 by Yan Quong Ching, Patrick’s grandfather, better known as “Kung Kung.”
No need for a niche in those days. In fact, the store was anti-niche; it sold everything. “It used to be full-on, where they cut the meat and everything,” Patrick said. Much of the space has been repurposed, but still bears reminders of former uses. A pair of rusty meat hooks remains in a storeroom, as well as a small door once used to bring in blocks of ice.
Two years ago, Patrick put up posters high on the walls showing his family history and that of the Punaluu community. He says they draw a lot of comments. “I was really surprised at the response I got.”
Ching’s was and remains a family concern. Kung Kung had 16 children, supported all of them through the store and put them to work there.
These days Patrick and Carlton are in the store daily, as is Patrick’s 21-year-old son Brandon, the heir apparent. Patrick’s wife, Cindy, does all the baking; their daughter Precious, 12, also helps out.
“I live right down the road,” Patrick said. “I can paddle my kayak to work, or swim.”
