Holokai Is Kaput!

The Holokai Restaurant in Waikiki is Gone. Kapu. Kaput.
http://starbulletin.com/2008/05/07/business/story02.html

Sadly, this newly renovated Waikiki Beach Walk area simply isn't the "local draw" that it was cracked up to be. It looks a THOUSAND times better than it did before, however, the tourism numbers are way down from both the continental U.S. and Japan and are expected to remain so this year. A number of businesses will be folding no doubt.
I would also say the biggest problem for businesses in Waikiki wanting to lure in the local market is LACK OF PARKING..or parking that is OUTRAGEOUSLY priced. This problem will not go away. I don't understand why some of these "bonehead" development people haven't figured out that in Waikiki is sorely in need of several PARKING STRUCTURES, like normal cities have. :)

Bummer, I guess my coconut just became a collectors. I would rather it was not.

I was just in Waikiki a few weeks ago and the day manager at Da Big Kahuna was complaining about how slow things were and that with Aloha Airlines going down that there was not going to be as many cheap flights out to the island and he was anticipating slow times.
Here is me and a co-worker contributing to the economic viabiability of "Da Big K", and two fish bowls and a few maitais......made for a brutal early flight home for some.

I had not realized that Thor shut down his store next to the marketplace. I wandered around in a confused state for about five minutes trying to figure out where the hell it had gone. It's bad when we cannot even maintain Tiki establishments in a place like Waikiki. I'm tired of all these places closing down.

The Thor Stor moved to Waikiki Beachwalk - kind of across the street from the Yard House. Unfortunately, they went upscale with the move, and discontinued everything I went to the Thor Stor for - no mugs, no books, no Tiki Magazine. The employee told me there's nothing under $100 in there.

Reasonable parking at Ft. Derusy - gotta walk a little, but not too bad.

Holokai's main problem - that second story location. You just couldn't see it from the ground level - you almost had to search it out. With the very inviting Yard House on the ground floor, I'll bet most of the impulse diners never even got near it.

Very sad. Also discussed here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=28100&forum=1&hilite=holokai

Too bad. Yep, that new Beach Walk development is an interesting place... some nice shops but an odd layout/location, especially for the tenants upstairs.
If you make it there, be sure to check out Malibu Shirts. They have some great merchandise, museum quality displays of vintage surfing memorabilia and friendly staff.
The Hawaiian bookstore upstairs is also a must-visit.
Aloha,
:tiki:

ALoha!!

I wanted to step in and get a few comments out regarding this thread and the new Beachwalk Development in Waikiki. Many points are well taken...I agree! But, some things are just too new there to really know the outcome. With any project like this..where an area such as this is changed in it's character so drastically, it's needs time to evolve into it's "personality" so to speak. Tourists and locals are still discovering the area and this takes time. Some will like it's character...some will not. Some businesses will flourish and others may find they are better suited in a different location. Bottom line is that we chose to move from the main strip on Kalakaua to this location because we believe it's trending towards being a very up and coming, hip and high energy place to hang in Waikiki. We see the numbers of both locals and touist climbing by the Month in this area. The Yardhouse in this same area is one of, if not the most "happening" spots in Waikiki for great food, music and drinks. That alone draws some very fun,upbeat crowds. Parking for locals is, indeed an issue though.

We made decisions at the THOR STOR that we are already seeing great results from. We were trying to be too many things at once...and decided, based on customer feedback, to break up the smaller products from higher end gallery aspects since they were generally attracting two different types of customers. The serious art collectors were distracted by all the "stuff" peppered on shelves around the art. The more small items we had all over the "Stor" like mugs and books and tiki's, the less people could focus on what I started as to begin with..a painter. My publisher suggested we try this. And it is working!! Originals are sold now before I can finish them and giclee sales are climbing by the day since we made this change. So from a business standpoint which justifies the enormous rent we pay...we made the right choice.

Second focus here we have is serving the need for great "Tiki" mugs and other things we all love. So, we decided to try doing this through a more web based and even wholesale supply service. We are currently redoing the website so there will be more items, mugs and lot's of cool new things available both online and for other stores in Hawaii and all over the world who wish to carry the Thor stuff and aquire wholesale price opportunities. We are confident that this might be a way to not confuse the customer(we really have had many customers comment that they were confused with so many things in our shop).

As far as the Holokai... My observations when looking at it's location is that much of the problem might be that is is upstairs. Sounds kinna simple..but I see many tourists not wanting to go through the effort of going up there!! Maybe it's a psychological thing...I dunno. I recall when I was at Imagineering listening to operations managers give input on early designs we proposed for retail and attractions and this point came up. They were less "nice" in how they addressed it. They encouraged designers to think about the average, lazy, sometimes data overloaded guests as wanting to make the least effort possible to get their food and fun. They could be very condescending, but they knew a lot about the psychology of someone on vacation 's mind set. They remarked that even putting three steps or a left turn instead of a straight linear path with a big glowing sign at the end would deter a guest. So...maybe this is part of the problem. I dunno.

Anyway...there's my two cents. It's really a challenge to balance the science of all this. It's still a mystery to me as to what sells or is successful in Hawaii and what is not. It's a constantly changing customer by the Month...as you can imagine with how tourism changes throughout a year. Our goal is to still celebrate the magic of Tiki and polynesian pop...and make sure it doesn't die in Hawaii. We are a minority to say the least at this endeavor. If you visit Waikiki this summer, come by and say hi.

Also, keep an eye out for our new website. The amazing wonders we will be releasing soon will tantalize and tickle your Tiki tastes beyond your wildest imaginations! (ouch..my tongue). Hang in there with the Beachwalk Development. It's just learned to "walk" and has great potential to be one of the most exciting draws in Waikiki. We will have our new store front done by early July and I guarantee it will be a refreshing sight to the Tiki community that strolls along the walkway!! See ya in Waikiki!!

[ Edited by: THOR's 2008-05-10 19:40 ]

Good Points....Selling ANYTHING in Waikiki must be a real challenge because of the amount of sensory overload. Your store is great, and I can see how separating the originals from the prints, and "tchochkies" would make a huge difference. Good luck with the new store, and, of course, I will always stop by when I'm in Waikiki....Speaking of which....I'm jonesin' for another trip right now.