America's bloodiest day
Hawai'i reports no major hoarding
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Although there were sporadic reports of stockpiling essential consumer goods and price-gouging on the Mainland yesterday, most Hawai'i consumers and businesses appeared to be exercising restraint the day following Tuesday's terrorist attack against the nation.
On the Mainland yesterday, gas prices were slow to come down from $5 a gallon or more after panicked dealers hiked prices on the assumption that there would be a disruption in supply, which gas producers say remains stable. In other cases around the country, people loaded up on food, water, fuel, ammunition, gas masks and even full-blown chemical warfare suits.
But in Hawai'i, while some increased purchasing of gas and groceries took place Tuesday following initial uncertainty of the attack's extent, calming efforts by government officials and businesses helped minimize consumer anxiety.
In Wailuku, the Ooka Super Market seemed to be experiencing only mini-runs on bottled water and rice, said Jaye Arakaki, store operations manager. And the demand for rice may be attributed to a special promotion — $2.77 for a 20-pound bag.
"I'm hoping it's the promotion," she said.
Bryan Wall, manager at the Mililani Wal-Mart, said purchases of paper goods and food were somewhat higher on the day of the attack, but returned to normal yesterday.
"I anticipated there would be some panic buying," he said, "but we've not see it very much at all."
A spokeswoman for Foodland Super Market Ltd. said the company saw no unusual consumer behavior yesterday. The same was true at the Waipi'o Costco and Kahului Safeway.
Although there seems to be some added demand for essentials, it's nothing like consumers' preparations in anticipation of the last dock workers' strike, store managers said.
Many Hawai'i residents realize that more than 90 percent of all goods arrive by ocean shipping, so the temporary cancellation of air travel did not trigger the same stockpiling mentality as would a threatened shipping strike, experts noted.
Some gas stations reported as much as a 40 percent increase in business on Tuesday, particularly in the afternoon. But sales were pretty much back to normal yesterday, operators said.
Gasoline price gouging at local stations was not a problem as Tesoro mandated a freeze on retail prices, and Chevron warned independent dealers to exercise restraint in pricing in the wake of the tragic events.
As of yesterday afternoon, the state Office of Consumer Protection reported receiving no complaints of price gouging. State Attorney General Earl Anzai also threatened prosecution of anyone charging exorbitant prices.
Civil Defense officials monitoring both prices and supplies of consumer goods on the Big Island and Kaua'i said they saw no evidence of anything out of the ordinary.
"We know when there's a crisis, like any big storm approaching us, people stock up," said Bill Davis, Civil Defense administrator in Hilo. "We've been fortunate. We really haven't had a run."
Dana Alden, marketing department chairman at the University of Hawai'i's School of Business and an expert on consumer behavior, said that such an unprecedented attack in this country generated new feelings of vulnerability that bring disaster-preparedness to the top of many minds.
"I think that's sort of a natural reaction to something like this," he said. "The U.S. is so big, and we've been so lucky for so long."
Those issues hit Toni Polancy of Kihei squarely. She found out about the terrorist attacks in a 4 a.m. phone call from her sister in Pennsylvania. Polancy, an author, said she dashed off to the local Safeway at 5:30 a.m. and spent $500 stocking up on essentials.
"I'm writing a book about pets, and all I could think of was that we're going to run out of dog food," Polancy said. "As the day wore on, I realized I was overreacting."
Staff writers Jan TenBruggencate and Christie Wilson contributed to this report.
