Last member of family to close Chock's store
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Her brother, Randy Lee, died of cancer in November, and her father, William Lee, died a month later of heart failure.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
So it wasn't much of a surprise when Sue Ann Lee gathered the staff of Chock's Home Appliance & Entertainment Center on Monday and told them she will close the family business March 31.
Sue Ann Lee, left, president of Chock’s Appliance & Entertainment Center, will close the store March 31. Also pictured are employee Francis Siu and customer Ruth Isaak.
Lee grew up sweeping the floors and cleaning the toilets of the old Chock's Radio Shop. So it was especially painful for her, after only two months as president of the family business, to make the decision to shut it down after more than 50 years.
"It's an extremely difficult time," Lee said yesterday. "I'm the only surviving member of the family. There's no one left to take over."
Chock's was closed Tuesday so its salespeople could knock down prices on $400,000 worth of merchandise and tape up hastily-made "All Sales Final" signs throughout the two-story, 6,000-square foot store on Young Street.
It's a sad ending for a business in which Lee saw her father and two older brothers serve loyal, long-time customers, first with radios, then home appliances and finally DVDs, big-screen televisions and high-end refrigerators.
Lee, 52, has an executive master's of business administration degree from the University of Hawai'i, but her passion is real estate. And while Chock's specialized in serving its longtime customers, it faced increasing pressure from big-box retailers like Sears and Circuit City, and the combined Wal-Mart and Sam's Club going up just a few blocks away.
"Although we sell high-ticket items and people think you make a lot of money, the margins for this business are really slim," Lee said.
Ruth Isaak of Hawai'i Kai has never been to a place like Circuit City. No need, she said, as long as Chock's was around.
Isaak figures she has bought at least two Zenith televisions, a refrigerator, VCR, stereo and air conditioner during the 30 years she has done business with Chock's.
"This is the type of business that's sad to lose," she said. "They had quality and service, and they would come out any time. And they were always very loyal."
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
William Lee learned the business firsthand from Wah Chaw Chock inside the tiny Chock's Radio Shop on Punchbowl Street. Those were the days of radio tubes, and Lee eventually became Chock's partner as black-and-white television sets appeared in Honolulu.
Longtime Chock's customer Ruth Isaak of Hawai'i Kai says she has bought several items from the Honolulu store over 30 years. "This is the type of business that's sad to lose," Isaak says.
In the 1960s, Lee moved the business to Beretania Street, and his oldest son, Mike, encouraged him to branch out into appliances. They renamed the company Chock's Television & Appliances in the 1970s and built their own building at 1308 Young St.
Mike Lee died about 12 years ago, and Randy Lee carried on the family feel for the business.
"They're all really nice people," said customer Roger Ingram. "It was always a delight to go in there. Everyone there is of good will. They always met us with a smile. It wasn't so much that we were a good customer going to buy something from them. It was literally friendliness and kindness."
Ingram is a partner in an interior design company, Furnishings, LLC., and estimates that he has bought $120,000 worth of merchandise from Chock's each year for his company's renovations.
"We really are in a quandary to know who to turn to," Ingram said. "We would hope to find a company that is just as wonderful. We would settle for a company that had good value and business ethics and would deliver and provide the same installation and products that they did."
At its peak in the early 1990s, Chock's employed 25 people. Now it's down to a dozen full- and part-time workers.
When Randy Lee died at age 54, followed by William Lee, 84, Chock's electronics manager Francis Siu figured the business might not last. But the speed of Sue Ann Lee's decision surprised him.
"We've sort of expected it since our boss passed away," Siu said. "We just didn't expect it would be so soon. We thought there would be time to keep on operating."
Siu, who has worked at Chock's for a dozen years, figures he'll need about a month to gather himself after the store closes. Then, at 47, he'll have to look for another job.
Lee isn't sure what will happen next.
She's taking care of her ailing mother, grieving for her brother and father and feeling a swirl of emotions over ending the business that was her family's legacy.
"This feels strange," she said. "This is what I grew up with. This was our whole life."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.
