Two longtime Hawaii institutions, Hawaii Pacific University and Zippy’s Restaurants, coincidentally chose the same day to make landmark announcements about their unrelated first-time expansions outside the state — to Hawaii’s “ninth island,” Las Vegas.
Zippy’s on Tuesday celebrated the grand opening of its 23rd location, at 7095 Badura Ave., about 7 miles southwest from the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. The ceremony included a traditional Hawaiian blessing, untying of a maile lei, Hawaiian chants and hula.
Meanwhile, HPU announced Tuesday that its first campus beyond the islands will begin classes in August at a building at 6175 W. Sunset Road. The new HPU location just happens to be in the same region of the city, roughly a mile and a half from the new Zippy’s.
“There is a strong connection between Las Vegas and Hawaii, as evident by the number of Hawaii-based companies that now have storefronts in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area,” HPU Senior Vice President and Provost Jennifer Walsh said by email in response to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser question about why the private, nonprofit university chose that particular city for its first out-of-state expansion.
With so many local people moving to Nevada, Walsh said, “we expect there to be a strong cultural connection between our Honolulu-based programs and our new programs in Las Vegas.”
“Sin City” has long been a top destination for kamaaina migrating away from the islands, because of its affordability and exciting attractions. An analysis on the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization website found that in 2018 alone, 4,959 Hawaii residents moved to Nevada, making it third among the states receiving the most Hawaii residents moving to the mainland. California was first at 12,848, followed by Texas at 7,986.
Zippy’s is banking on that trend continuing.
Its new 20,000-plus-square-foot building houses not only an 8,000-square-foot restaurant, but also a central kitchen “that will produce food and bakery items for more Zippy’s locations to come,” the company said in a news release.
“We hired more than 200 team members. Managers were trained in Hawaii for nearly one year to ensure that Zippy’s in Las Vegas performs at the same high standard for food and service as it does in Hawaii,” Jason Higa, CEO of Zippy’s, said in the release. “This has been a culmination of years of planning, investments in people and facilities, and dedication to the vision of sharing aloha with the Las Vegas community.”
The Vegas location was first announced in 2018 but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The latest Zippy’s has a structure familiar to kamaaina who frequent the other 22 Zippy’s eateries on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island, with its three signature features: a takeout counter, a dine-in restaurant with table services, and a bakery.
Zippy’s, which was founded in 1966, donated $10,000 each to community organizations in Vegas: Three Square, Opportunity Village, The Just One Project and the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club. Belma Soliven, Zippy’s senior regional director, said the donations “are our way to say ‘thank you’ to the community for welcoming us with open arms. We are new to this community and offer these gifts to demonstrate that we are here to serve more than just great food.”
HPU also is focused on long-term growth both in and outside of Hawaii.
Established in 1965, it currently serves 4,800 students on Oahu, at its anchor location at Aloha Tower Marketplace and operations at Waterfront Plaza, Pioneer Plaza and HPU’s Makapu‘u Campus in Waimanalo.
Its 12,000-square-foot site in Las Vegas will offer doctorate programs in occupational therapy and physical therapy, and officials expect to gradually build up to its capacity for 400 students.
Each doctoral program can be completed in 24 months, and they will be “delivered in a hybrid format that allows students to live anywhere in the country and attend lab immersions at the HPU Las Vegas campus,” an HPU release said.
There is a “very strong need” for physical therapists and occupational therapists in the western region of the U.S., HPU’s Walsh said, and “less than 60% of the new positions in physical and occupational therapy will be met with graduates from western-based programs.”
Nevada also has some of the highest average salaries in the nation for those occupations, at $99,650 for physical therapists and $105,000 for occupational therapists, according to 2022 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
HPU students in the two doctoral programs will pay the same tuition regardless of whether they choose Hawaii or Las Vegas as their base campus. Tuition for the occupational therapy doctorate, as an example, is $9,220 per each eight-week term, and in year one there are six terms. In year two, tuition is $18,440 per each 16-week term, and there are three terms.
Application information for HPU programs can be found at 808ne.ws/46oWKUZ.
Asked whether further growth is expected, Walsh said that HPU “does plan to expand graduate programs offered in distance learning and hybrid modalities. We expect most of those programs will have a home-base here in Hawaii.”
