Farm vendor leaves Manoa market

Walter Shin walks past the Ken's Produce display at Manoa Marketplace. With the departure of craft vendors — and Hiraoka Farm — from the popular Manoa Farmers Market, the future of the Marketplace is a topic of area concern. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

The impending departure of one of six vendors at the popular Manoa Farmers Market is the latest blow in what has been months of uncertainty about the fate of the popular Manoa Marketplace open market since late last year when craft people were ordered to leave.

The produce vendors lost their long-term lease in October and have been operating month-to-month. They also were required to move up their hours of operation, and now Hiraoka Farm will pull out at the end of the month. The vendors are a private collective and not part of the city's People's Open Market program.

Lucy Hiraoka, who has been selling vegetables and flowers grown on her family's Waimanalo farm for the past three years at Manoa Marketplace, said the other vendors will remain after she leaves Feb. 1.

Hiraoka, who is moving her produce down East Manoa Road to Beau Soleil restaurant, said center management changed the open market hours to 7-11 a.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, which said to her they "were on very thin ice" and it was time to find another location.

She said crafters, who used to be part of the open market, were told they could not be part of the farmer's market in October, at the beginning of the holiday season.

Manoa Marketplace management did not respond to a request for an interview.

Linda Doell, co-owner of Ko'olau Gallery, said the vendors have not been asked to leave, just to adjust their hours so customers coming to other shops can find parking in the crowded lot. She said the crafters were selling some of the same products being sold in marketplace stores and that is why they were asked to leave.

"People are struggling to stay open," Doell said. "It is a compromise situation. People shop in a hurry, and parking was a constant source of complaints."

Doell said after the changes were made last year, her business improved and it is now easier for customers to find parking.

Waikiki resident Pat Wagner rides the bus into Manoa to shop for produce because she says it's the best on the island and the farmers market is a plus for the center because it brings business to other shops.

"Hundreds of people go to Manoa for the farmers market," Wagner said.

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.