A Look Back at 1982, a Pivotal Year in the Transition to Today’s Hawai‘i

The issues faced in 1982 sound familiar, more than four decades later: a blowback against tourism, high interest rates that stifle expansion and development, weak housing sales, a shortage of capital, the need for diversification, the high cost of health care, the telescopes on Mauna Kea.

Those issues and many more were covered in the pages of Hawaii Business Magazine during 1982, an important transition year between early statehood Hawai‘i and today. The magazine reflected other changes taking place in the Islands, too. Women appeared more often in its pages, though most of the coverage was still about men. In the pictures that accompanied its stories, readers saw more aloha shirts and fewer suits and ties; even the ads were changing, as black and white gave way to color.

What Hawaii Business called the Story of the Year was, “How Mid Pac upset the airline applecart,” published in January. However, the airline—like many newcomers in the local economy—was gone before the end of the decade. (See page 16 for more on that article and other Person of the Year and Story of the Year reports throughout the years.)

Here are headlines and highlights from selected stories from Hawaii Business Magazine in 1982.

January | “Growing Pains for a Maturing Economy. The Worst Recession Ever?”

Hawai‘i had been experiencing recessions every four to six years. Generally, the effects of a recessionary economy reach the Islands a few months after they are felt on the mainland, though the recovery locally usually follows the national pattern. And this recession may have been the worst yet for Hawai‘i.

The four legs of the local economy—tourism, the military, sugar, and pineapple—had traditionally resisted recessionary pressures, largely because of their independence from national market conditions (they were more affected by international conditions).

Government spending and debt had tripled in the last decade, and government employed 1 out of every 5 Hawai‘i workers. The state had a $200 million surplus because of high taxes, Hawaii Business reported.

Rock-bottom prices for sugar due to a worldwide glut saddled local companies with more than $100 million in losses. Lobbying efforts to establish government-guaranteed sugar prices for U.S. growers faced considerable opposition. The pineapple industry was on an even level that year, though, and diversified agriculture was helping too.

Defense expenditures were up and the construction industry was holding its own, but future residential developments were on hold, with builders calling the housing slump that began in 1980 the worst ever.

A bright spot: Ohana zoning laws were set to take effect soon, allowing second dwellings on properties.

For most of Hawai‘i’s industries, the recession of the early 1980s was the worst to date. In fact, the magazine predicted, with tourism sagging and the viability of the sugar industry in question, the early 1980s may well be remembered as a turning point in Hawai‘i’s economy.

February | “Davies Diversifies: By 1986, Theo H. Davies May Be More Involved in Energy Than Sugar”

This story compared two of Hawai‘i’s “Big Five” companies—Amfac and Davies—that earned most of their income from farming.

Amfac closed sugar plantations, while Theo H. Davies shifted resources to oil and gas exploration on the mainland due to depressed sugar prices. The company was bought by Jardine Matheson & Co. of Hong Kong in 1973.

Despite the moves, sugar remained a Davies mainstay for years.

“People’s Makes the Switch: An Ethnic S and L Decides It Ought to Be an Ethnic Bank Instead”

People’s Savings & Loan registered profits in its first year because it catered to underserved communities: Filipinos and other Asian immigrants.

Joseph Macapinlac, People’s president, said People’s wasn’t saddled with low-interest mortgages in its loan portfolio and instead tied interest rates to the prime rate to ensure a return during periods of fluctuation.

The bank’s multilingual employees educated the Filipino and other communities on banking and finance—from checking accounts to interest rates. Some customers brought in bags with thousands of dollars in cash for safekeeping in the bank. Word spread, and soon People’s was the only profitable S and L in the Islands.

“Bank Deregulation at Work”

Hawai‘i’s banks and savings and loans were caught off guard when national bank deregulation brought in competition, plus high interest rates caused the cost of borrowing money to skyrocket. Profits took a hit, and the S and Ls were hurt the most because they held so many long-term mortgages and other loans with low fixed rates.

“Tourism: A Troubled Industry Chooses Ken Char. A Lot of Changes Are in Store as the HVB’s New President Comes on Board.”

Char’s mandate at the then Hawai‘i Visitors Bureau was to revamp the industry’s marketing and its relationship with government. His strategy involved uniting a fragmented industry and redirecting Hawai‘i’s marketing to a more aggressive, destination-focused plan.

“Another Flat Year? The Tourist Industry May Be Facing Its Third Year of No-Growth.”

1980 and 1981 were years of no growth in tourism—in fact, Hawai‘i registered its first-ever year-over-year decline in visitors, albeit a minuscule 0.7%.

One important change was that group travel was declining as more people chose independent travel. The start of the visitor slowdown was traced to two events in mid-1979: a United Airlines strike and the grounding of DC-10s after a Chicago crash.

Additionally, national media reports on crimes against tourists shattered the illusion of Hawai‘i as a paradise. Escalating airfares were also a problem.

“Windward Mall on Schedule. The New Mall Will Open Later This Year.”

The mall in Kane‘ohe was the first regional shopping center on O‘ahu’s Windward Side.

“A Growing Role with a Shrinking Budget. Victor Li Talks About the East-West Center’s Role in the Pacific.”

The 41-year-old was six when his family emigrated from China to New York City. He had impressive credentials when he became president of the East-West Center: a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and law degrees from Columbia and Harvard. He had taught at Michigan, Columbia, and Stanford; his specialty was the Chinese legal system.

At the East-West Center, he proposed a greater alliance with the local business community as well as some cost reductions. Li served as EWC president until 1990. That year, he founded the Asia Pacific Consulting Group for the law firm Watanabe Ing & Kawashima, with former Gov. George Ariyoshi. Li helped U.S. companies set up operations in China while Ariyoshi did similar work for Japan.

“Tough Times for Young Farmers”

In Hawai‘i, raising capital was a bigger challenge than raising a crop, and young people had been leaving farms to pursue other careers for years. As a result, the state’s agriculture community was steadily aging, with the average age of workers at 55. (Currently, the average age is 60.8 years.)

Diversified farming could face a precarious situation in the next decade, the magazine reported. Those who decided to give it a try had trouble finding initial investment if they didn’t already have a family farm.

April | “Guam Report: Digging Out of the Doldrums. Guam Is Looking for a New Approach to Its Old Problems.”

Guam was mostly dependent on Japanese tourism and looking for Korean tourists as well. The public sector grew under Gov. Paul Calvo, and about half of Guam’s workers were employed in the public sector: 19% by the federal government and 32% by the territorial government. Meanwhile, private sector employment fell.

In 1977, an attempt was made to slow down the hiring of “alien” labor in the construction industry and to increase wages. As a result, construction costs rose 40%, and the industry dried up. Close to half of the 300 construction-related companies shut down.

One advantage Guam had was tariff protections on its exports to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, and the European Common Market. Guam’s leaders worked on a long-term strategy to build on these advantages.

“How Does Amos Stay Famous?”

Wally Amos, famous for his chocolate chip cookies, started baking them in 1975. What’s the secret to his business success? “I’m not a businessman – I’m a promoter,” he said in 1982.

He handpicked key people to run his company: Sid Ross, a former coffee wholesaler, was president of the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Corp., and Bill Armstrong, the man who convinced Amos to move to Hawai‘i in 1977, was VP. He opened his first store on Ke‘eaumoku Street, and the business took off.

(Amos died on Aug. 13, 2024, at his Honolulu home at age 88.)

May | “Catch-Up Time for Maui County. Where’s the Bottom?”

A decade of extraordinary growth left inadequate infrastructure on Maui. In the 1970s, Maui grew by leaps and bounds, thanks to the blossoming of its tourist industry. Construction and service industries flourished, but all that was changing as Maui entered the 1980s.

Undercurrents of local resentment toward growth were surfacing, and ironically, it was happening just as the economic machinery had slowed down. Even so, business was bustling in the resort area of Ka‘anapali.

Sugar, pineapple, and tourism on Maui faced uncertain futures. But state and county housing projects totaling some 2,000 units were in various stages of planning and development. Real estate development had become one of the alternatives for sugar companies scrambling to diversify, but some of that land was donated for housing.

Condo projects begun several years earlier were being completed, and buyers could find bargains because of weak sales.

Women in Management

Several women on Maui were examples of the trend toward more women in leadership. They included Nora Cooper, GM of Maui Publishing, editor of the Maui News, and the first woman president of the Maui Chamber of Commerce.

Lynn Britton was the executive director of the chamber, where she was formerly the secretary and handled a variety of jobs. When the previous executive director left, she applied for the job and was unanimously accepted.

Alma Cooper was provost of Maui Community College. She began her career as a teacher, then went into middle management and performed well in a variety of positions in higher education.

Halaki Hughgill was the manager of Maui 800, a reservations service for travel agents. She started at a major hotel on Maui and was made acting group and conventions manager when her boss left the business. After three months and persistence, she was awarded the title outright, but not the salary. When she left, the man who replaced her got the full salary of her old boss. However, her work there gave her the experience she needed to run Maui 800.

June | Housing: Survival Tactics in a Down Market

The recession hit the Hawai‘i housing industry hard. Deregulation of financial institutions and regulation changes under President Ronald Reagan’s administration had permanently shifted the economy from its post-World War II track and put off a quick rebound.

Developers were not interested in creating housing for low- and moderate-income people, and particularly not rental housing, because of high construction costs, low return on investments, and the scarcity of available land. Young buyers couldn’t afford Hawai‘i’s high housing costs, which put more pressure on rentals. Instead, public housing agencies stepped in to provide rental housing.

In Hawai‘i, less than half of households owned a home, much lower than the national average. With tourism flat, resort condominiums coming on the market could have provided much-needed rental housing, Hawaii Business Magazine reported, but they were likely to be returned to the more lucrative visitor market when tourism picked up.

July | Kaua‘i: Sugar Scare Shakes Up the County

Kaua‘i got a lot of scares in 1981. Tourism declined for the third consecutive year, and sugar prices tumbled, putting the industry on the edge of disaster. Pineapple had already left the island. Add to that California’s embargo on fruit treated with the EDB pesticide, which hurt the agriculture industry badly, particularly papaya growers.

A focus on tourism could have been one way out, but Garden Island residents argued against continued growth in tourism and instead pushed for diversified agriculture. Yet, attitudes against tourism appeared to be softening, with some politicians arguing for controlled growth.

Tourism: Local Boys Make Good. Hawai‘i’s Hotel Industry Is Discovering Top Talent in Its Own Backyard.

Among those profiled were Lahaina native Juan Aquinade, 42, who started his hotel career scrubbing pots and pans at the Sheraton Maui for $1.45 an hour. In 1982, he was VP of operations for Amfac Hotels and GM of the new $60 million, 460-room Waiohai Resort on Kaua‘i, as well as a 150-room Po‘ipū Beach hotel.

Christian Chang, 43, born in Honolulu, started as a pantry helper at the Halekulani. The job paid 90 cents an hour. By 1982, he was GM of Hawaiian Pacific Resorts’ 242-room Kauai Resort hotel in Wailua.

Harold Rapoza, 39, born in Hilo, got his first hotel job as a desk clerk at the Ka‘anapali Beach Hotel on Maui in 1966. Fourteen years later, he returned to the same hotel—this time as GM. By July 1982, he was GM of the $20 million Hanalei Bay Resort complex in Princeville.

Crisis Time for Farmers: Kaua‘i Faces an Uncertain Future in Maintaining Its Agriculture Industry

Kaua‘i’s sugar problems were well known at the time, and pineapple had been lost a decade earlier. Its second-largest crop, papaya, suffered its worst year in its history, a result of California’s ban on the EDB pesticide. The ban suddenly closed off half of Hawai‘i’s market and left farmers holding hundreds of thousands of pounds of papaya.

The rotting fruit, along with a lot of rain, caused a fungus to build into an uncontrollable epidemic that cost the industry three-quarters of its crop.

C. Brewer, another of the Big Five companies, produced more guavas than it could sell. Taro, bananas, and other crops met local demand, but land and capital shortages limited their export potential. A 100-acre prawn farm had closed in 1980 because of unfavorable weather.

“Kaua‘i’s Invisible Hotel”

When celebrities like Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow, and other privacy-minded vacationers were on the Garden Island, they stayed at Kaua‘i’s “invisible hotel,” a little-known collection of about 100 private homes scattered along the island’s northern and southern shores.

The “invisible hotel” relied on word-of-mouth advertising by its customers. Yet demand for these vacation rentals was up. While other visitor accommodations wrestled with declining occupancy rates in 1981, bookings for private homes were up 50%, say Clare Miller and Lucy Kawaihalau, whose Kauai Vacation Rentals handled most of the vacation homes on the island.

Most of their clients were returnees to Hawai‘i who knew their way around and preferred the comforts of a private home to a hotel. The vacationer could choose a modest cottage, a spectacular oceanfront villa, or something in between, with prices from $250 per week to $250 per day. Maid service was an additional $10 an hour, but few clients bothered with the option.

Vacation renters stayed longer than other tourists. In the winter, the average was one month; in the summer, it was two weeks. And for large groups, it was cheaper per person than hotels.

Prosser Realty, which handled about a dozen home rentals, did no active advertising, Realtor Betty Bell said at the time, “yet we get more business than we can put into the houses.”

Most of the landlords were mainland absentee owners who used the units as their own vacation homes. Others saw their units as second homes or retirement properties, and some turned a nice profit.

Dog Days for Kaua‘i Realtors

1982 was the Year of the Dog and, fittingly, Kaua‘i’s real estate market was rolling over and playing dead.

During the first quarter, Kaua‘i’s 280 Realtors—down from 340 the year before—sold only 17 properties. Home prices were plummeting. Sales of resort condos to visitor-investors had dropped to 20% of one Realtor’s business, and 80% of sales were to residents seeking homes and vacant land.

Miss Mabel Must Be Smiling

Mabel Wilcox knew exactly what she wanted to happen to her homestead when she passed on.

In 1971, Miss Mabel, as she was widely known on the Garden Island, announced that the home and grounds where she’d been born, raised, and lived her life were to be converted into a living museum depicting the Grove Farm plantation’s history.

In 1978, 96-year-old Miss Mabel died. Her legacy is now the Wilcox family’s 80-acre plantation, museum, gardens, and home, built in the 1850s.

August | “Transportation: Surface Shipping Hits the Doldrums”

It was slow sailing through recessionary squalls for Hawai‘i shippers. Primarily due to a slumping economy, Matson saw westbound container cargo volume decline for three straight years. Declining shipments of construction equipment and household furnishings and appliances reflected the falloff in the local home construction business.

One bright spot was eastbound refrigerated shipments of papayas, nursery stock, and agricultural products. Operating profits were up 49% as a result of investments in new vessels and shoreside facilities. But fuel costs, which were 10% of operating expenses in 1971, grew to 60%.

Retailing: Pomare ‘Turns On’ the Tourists

Jim Romig, founder of retailer Hilo Hattie and chairman of Pomare, could not have been prouder than when a couple ahead of him in an airport line—whose outfits he was admiring—told him they were wearing Hilo Hattie’s matching alohawear. In fact, lots of tourists bought the company’s alohawear.

Hilo Hattie is better known as a mu‘umu‘u maker than as the entertainer of the 1950s from whom the clothing line takes its name and pays a royalty. Pomare sees itself as a marketing and merchandising company more than a manufacturer.

Foreclosures

Defaults on home mortgages, unusual in the past, had been skyrocketing, and a record number of people were losing their homes on the foreclosure auction block. Many included young, first-time buyers and mainland investors.

The problem was the recession: Homeowners couldn’t sell their properties in a bad market.

Aloha: Suzie, Debbie, and Pam Just Gave You a Tax Break. The More We Give, the More We’ve Got.

An ad from the Hawaii Publishers Association tried to counter the backlash against tourists by reminding residents that tourists provided millions in tax dollars to state and county governments.

The ad featured a picture of three young female tourists in bikinis on Waikīkī Beach, with the headline reminding readers that people like these women were paying local taxes during their visits and giving locals “a tax break.”

September | Finance: How an Idaho Cowboy Salvaged THC Financial

This is about the fraud, mismanagement, and failure of THC Financial, and how J. Carl Osborne was urgently called off a golf course in Los Angeles to help sort out the mess when the government seized its assets.

In the end, THC was liquidated, with depositors getting 33 cents on the dollar.

Manufacturing: A $2.5 Billion Industry That Wants Some Respect

In 1960, manufacturing in Hawai‘i—which included sugar and pineapple processing—ranked fourth after federal expenditures, construction, and sugar/pineapple in its contribution to Hawai‘i’s economy. By 1980, it ranked third, after federal spending and the visitor industry, totaling $2.5 billion a year.

Most of the 740 diversified manufacturing companies in Hawai‘i could be grouped into six major sectors: oil refining, cement and steelmaking, textile and garment manufacturing, food processing, printing and publishing, and jewelry and tourist-related products. Of these, oil refining contributed the most revenue.

One company that was profiled: the Kamaka Ukulele Factory, founded in 1916.

Here Comes Barbers Point. Whether It’s Needed or Not Is Now Moot; The Harbor Is Underway.

The idea for a deep harbor at Barbers Point was spawned in the 1950s by a New York planning firm hired by the Campbell Estate. The inlet was seen as a relief harbor for Honolulu but also as a catalyst for the creation of a new metropolis on O‘ahu’s western coast, where Campbell Estate had considerable land holdings.

The estate trustees liked the idea, and so did the state, so a feasibility study was done. It was completed in 1963 and included in a federal rivers and harbors act. A design study was also completed in 1976 after several delays; in 1978, President Jimmy Carter’s administration approved a cost-sharing agreement that gave the federal government responsibility for 96% of the cost of the first construction phase.

The work included widening the channel entrance and deepening the harbor by excavating and dredging coral, which would be stockpiled on Campbell Estate land. The cost would be over $47 million. Nearly 90% of the proceeds from selling the 10.6 million cubic feet of coral would go to the estate in exchange for 246 acres of land on which the harbor facilities were being constructed, with the state receiving 11%. Remaining phases would be paid for by the state.

Campaigning by Computer – From Hawaii. Companies Like Voter Contact Services Are Changing the Way Political Campaigns Are Run.

One of the country’s largest firms specializing in political applications operated out of a converted family room in a small home in Honolulu.

That company was Bill Daly’s Voter Contact Services, which provided information to candidates on 20 million registered voters in 11 western states. The company said its high-speed printing made direct mail contact effortless. The company dominated in Hawai‘i as well as the Pacific Northwest and some midwestern states, and was competitive in California.

Ethnic Chic – Keo’s Thai Cuisine. The Immigrant Restaurateur Heads Up a Growing Family Enterprise.

At the time, Keo Sananikone, the 29-year-old owner of Keo’s Thai Cuisine, was one of about 2,000 Laotian immigrants to settle in Hawai‘i since the Indochina wars drove a mass exodus of refugees.

Keo’s on Kapahulu was known for its delicious Thai food and celebrity guests, such as Carol Burnett and Olivia Newton-John. Keo and his family also had an Asian Market and sourced locally grown food from Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese farmers for their restaurant and shop. His brothers and sisters also ran restaurants. In addition to Keo’s Thai Cuisine, he, along with his sister Nancy, managed the dining concession at the East-West Center.

October | Looking for a Cure: As Sugar Slips, the Big Island Hunts for an Economic Rx.

The unemployment rate continued to rise on the Big Island; for the previous seven years, the island had the highest unemployment rate in the state.

Tourism and sugar were both shrinking. Puna Sugar would shut down in 1984, taking with it 500 more jobs, but some land would be converted to macadamia nuts and other diversified agriculture uses, including coffee and fruits.

New operations were a bright spot, ranging from astronomy and satellite launching services to geothermal power and manganese mining. The county’s hopes were also riding on Kohala as a tourist destination.

Hilo Airport offered the only direct flight to the mainland, operated by United Airlines. A cross-island highway between Hilo and Kona would reduce driving time to Kona and was a top priority for local residents, but not for Gov. George Ariyoshi.

The depressed economy and high interest rates also brought real estate activity on the island to a virtual standstill.

The Economy of Astronomy. Star Gazing on the Big Island Is a $7 Million a Year Business.

The Mauna Kea Science Reserve bristled with some $53 million worth of costly, complex optical and infrared instruments. Before the decade ended, another three telescopes worth $59 million may be probing the stars, according to the story. Most of the capital to build the telescopes came from outside the county and state.

The corporations that owned the equipment employed over 100 people, with 6 of every 10 being local hires. Their combined operating budgets pumped almost $7 million a year into the state economy, with most of the money being spent in Hawai‘i County.

The man most responsible for the rise of astronomy as an economic force on the Big Island was astronomer John Jefferies. As director of UH’s Institute for Astronomy, Jefferies wanted to turn Mauna Kea’s summit into “one of the great observatories of the world,” as Science magazine put it in its November 1981 article on the man and the mountain.

Robert Fujimoto, president of HPM Building Supply, was one of astronomy’s staunchest friends on the Big Island. He was also chairman of the UH Board of Regents, which exercised ultimate authority over projects proposed by Jefferies’ Institute for Astronomy, and was a good friend of Jefferies and Hawai‘i Island Mayor Herbert Matayoshi, who initially didn’t like the idea of the domes on the mountain.

Jefferies said that each telescope meant 20 to 40 jobs for the island’s economy and that he envisioned as many as 13 instruments on the summit by 2000. In 1982, four separate groups operated six telescopes: UH, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corp., the United Kingdom’s Science Research Council, and NASA.

The little town of Waimea, which benefited from the construction, served as a base camp for employees, such as telescope operators, mechanical technicians, and electrical and optical engineers.

Hawai‘i’s Last Frontier. In the ‘70s All Eyes Were on Kona; Now the Spotlight Is on Puna.

Space Services Inc., a private satellite launching company based in Texas, hoped to launch its first commercial payload into space in April 1984 from South Point on the Big Island. Land deals had yet to be negotiated, however.

(Various proposals to launch satellites from the Big Island have been proposed for more than half a century, but Hawaii Business was unable to find evidence that any launch ever took place.)

Countdown for Ka‘u

The Puna District is a big diamond-shaped rural area south of Hilo, with few paved roads and lots of open, inexpensive land. Here, people live off the grid. The terrain ranges from rainforest to lava fields.

Puna’s population had been growing as mostly low- to moderate-income earners sought inexpensive homes and land. Kea‘au and the former plantation village of Pāhoa were also growing, with Kea‘au developing into a bedroom community for Hilo.

Crime had risen, and the police force was too thin. As a result, many people armed themselves. Other county assets and services, such as firefighters and water lines, were also lacking, and there was pushback on geothermal power.

Meanwhile, marijuana growers flourished. Puna was known for producing the state’s most popular exported flower, the anthurium. But the state’s largest crop by far was commonly called Puna Butter—marijuana. Since it was illegal, no one knew how much was produced in Puna, but estimates put the value at several hundred million dollars. And it was an all-cash business.

November | Editor’s Notebook by Kim Jacobsen, Editor & Publisher

“It will surprise many of our readers that the health care industry in Hawai‘i is a $300 million-a-year business – almost as large as the sugar industry – with a labor force of some 11,500 people,” Hawaii Business Magazine’s Kim Jacobsen wrote. “But like sugar, Hawai‘i’s hospitals are facing serious problems.”

Escalating hospital costs created problems for everyone, especially those in private business who pay the “lion’s share of medical costs” through health insurance programs.

Hospitals at a Crossroads. The Decade Ahead Will Hold Many Changes in Hawai‘i’s Health Care System.

The health care industry’s plight was not unlike that of sugar. Costs were skyrocketing while revenues were plummeting. Hospitals were looking to the federal government for a remedy.

Hawai‘i’s hospitals were, for the most part, financially sound, but that could change. The problem was that the federal government was attempting to ease out of the medical insurance business – Medicare and Medicaid – which covered more than half of Hawai‘i’s patient population.

These programs were already reimbursing Hawai‘i hospitals for less than their costs – as little as 70 cents for every dollar – and cutbacks were expected to continue over the next three years.

With government underpaying the tab for so many patients, the institutions were left with a staggering shortfall.

The state’s hospitals constituted an industry as large as sugar, which was valued at $328 million in 1981. They spent more than $300 million a year, and over half of that was for labor. Hawai‘i was seen as having too few hospital beds, with only 3.3 beds per 1,000 people, compared with the mainland’s 4.4.

Sugar and Pineapple Once Ruled. No More.

Diversified agriculture was growing, according to this story on the high value of diversified agriculture, including flower and nursery products, macadamia nuts, vegetables and melons, dairy, and livestock.

In 1981, diversified agriculture accounted for “a surprising” 40% of the total value of the state’s agricultural crop; sugar, meanwhile, accounted for 42%, and pineapple 18%.

Food Is King

Hawai‘i’s number one retailer in 1981 was the supermarket chain Foodland, with 27 stores, 1,200 employees, and annual sales of more than $170 million. As the article said, “In a recession, food is one thing consumers cannot do without.”

A related article said 1982 marked the end of a 25-year boom in shopping center development. The story declared Hawai‘i had reached its shopping center saturation point.

Hawai‘i had all the regional shopping centers it needed: Ala Moana Center, Pearlridge Center, Windward Mall, and Kahala Mall served the four major population centers of O‘ahu. The Neighbor Islands had too small a population to support full-sized regional centers, but each had or would have a “B” facility that hosts several anchors.

Far down the road, Mililani and Hawai‘i Kai may grow large enough to warrant regional centers.

Golden Oldie: Well-Built Buildings Never Die; They Just Get Recycled.

Instead of tearing down old buildings in Chinatown, the story touts giving them a facelift as part of a growing “rehabilitation” movement. Tax breaks helped spur the renovations.