One family's hopes for the year

By John Duchemin, Dan Nakaso
and David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writers

Hawai'i's economy is recovering, but money is still tight at Stanley's Chicken Market.

Dennis Kinoshita Jr. took over Stanley's Chicken Market and has plans to increase his customer base. He holds his niece, Jaelia, 2. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Since late 2001, however, Stanley's and the Kinoshitas — like many of their customers, suppliers, family members and others in Hawai'i — have suffered through turbulent economic times.

Though removed from the direct impact of 2001's 9-percent drop in visitor arrivals and 11,000 tourism-related layoffs after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Kinoshitas still saw their wholesale business wilt. Their retail sales also dropped in the fall of 2001. And while they leveled off early last year, they have only been just OK since.

Now, Stanley's owner Dennis Kinoshita Jr. looks ahead to 2003 with a seasoned determination but also a measure of uncertainty. The business bought by his grandmother 48 years ago has survived many previous down cycles, but he expects another mediocre year.

"The coming year? I'm concerned (about war with Iraq and a further economic slowdown), but we will survive," he said. "If we lose 20 percent, my income comes down, but I'll survive."

Kinoshita relatives and associates in other parts of the economy say much the same for the year ahead. They talk of a business community and economy that not only are still raw from the bruising hits to the state's biggest industry of tourism, but also are looking toward another year of shaky confidence and looming what-ifs.

First link in the economic chain

Dennis Jr., 38, is the first link in the chain. A third-generation business owner who took over from his father in 1998, he is grandson of 84-year-old Sadako Kinoshita, who paid $500 to buy the business from Stanley Fukuda in 1954.

Dennis Jr. sits somewhere in the middle of the Hawai'i retail and wholesale supply network, buying fresh chickens from local slaughterhouses and selling them to restaurants. Kinoshita also runs a barbecue chicken shack in the parking lot of the farmers' market, selling about 500 birds a week to retail customers.

In a good year, Dennis Jr. takes home around $30,000 in income. Stanley's still provides income for Dennis' grandmother, two sisters and five other family members and friends, who all work as independent contractors to lower the cost of health benefits, social security, workers' comp, taxes and insurance.

Last year, the falloff in tourism hit Stanley's in a classic economic chain reaction. The dropoff in visitors to local hotels meant fewer tourists in town to eat in area restaurants. Many of those restaurants — including long-time Stanley's Chicken Market customers such as Hee Hing Restaurant in Kapahulu — rely on tourists for a small but crucial portion of their revenues.

"Tourism is what brings in the extra gravy," said James H.Q. Lee, owner of Hee Hing. "It makes the difference between a good year and a bad year. It keeps the restaurants full."

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