Ala Moana store Watumull’s is clearing aloha attire inventory as it prepares to close its doors

The outpouring of sentiment to the impending closure of Watumull’s — an iconic aloha attire retailer and one of Ala Moana Center’s original tenants 60 years ago — is something akin to witnessing your own funeral.

“People are saying nice things,” said President J.D. Watumull, grandson of the company’s founder, Jhamandas Watumull, who came to Hawaii in 1914 and founded what the company believes is Hawaii’s first Indian-­owned business.

At the age of 64, J.D. Watumull now has the gloomy task of shuttering the 950-square-foot business that bears his family’s name at Ala Moana Center’s Center Court on June 30, amid the uncertainty of when Hawaii’s tourism industry will recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My father worked until he was 95, my grandfather until 101,” Watumull said. “It is bittersweet. It wasn’t an easy decision.”

Over its 60 years, Watumull’s developed a loyal following of returning visitors who continued to buy aloha attire for children, men and women.

Now, with the end less than two weeks away and the impending loss of jobs for six store employees, Watumull’s is offering 50% discounts on the entire store inventory to a new business model that is now mostly reliant on kamaaina customers.

“Fifty percent off everything,” Watumull said. “It’s the whole store. Just get rid of the merchandise and do something nice for people.”

In an advertisement, Watumull’s thanked its customers “for years of good business and good memories.”