Auction marks end for kama'aina chain McInerny
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
More than 100 years of history will be sold this week as part of the closing of McInerny, one of the oldest names in kama'aina retailing.
Advertiser library photo • 1973
The retail chain that evolved from a general merchandise shop 146 years ago is down to two stores and a warehouse of goods. The last of the inventory will be up for grabs in the final sales of what the company's president, Mike Windsor, calls the last of Hawai'i's "generic retailers."
McInerny's flagship store at Ala Moana, one of the mall's first tenants, closed in the late 1990s. In its place today, 'ewa of the second-floor escalator landing overlooking Centerstage, are designer showrooms.
Tomorrow, McInerny's warehouse on Kapi'olani Boulevard will auction everything from conveyer belts to mannequins to rolls of wallpaper.
"It's 75 years of collecting things for the stores: old photographs ... track lighting ... props ... security systems. ... They went to the Mainland and bought things out of antique stores," said Marty McClain, who is handling the McInerny warehouse sale for McClain Auctions.
"It's sad that they're closing. They are really closing — closing, closing."
McInerny has been winding down operations since the middle of last year.
The two remaining stores, down from 13 last July, will close Friday.
One of those is at Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. The other, operated as Jams World by McInerny, is at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel.
Most stores were acquired by other retailers, such as Maui Clothing Co., which took over two McInerny leases at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and plans to assume a third at the Sheraton Waikiki, according to Windsor.
A few other McInerny stores simply closed. The last two also will be returned to landlords.
"It's been very challenging," Windsor said. "It's not an easy thing to do — go out of business."
Windsor said many of the company's 140 employees have found jobs with other retailers, including some that have taken over McInerny store spaces.
Fixtures at the last two stores will be auctioned Feb. 12, marking McInerny's final sales.
McInerny was established in 1857 by Patrick Michael McInerny, a ship carpenter from Ireland who opened a shop at the corner of Beretania and Maunakea streets downtown to sell everyday goods.
It grew to become one of Honolulu's biggest department stores, serving primarily residents through much of the first half of the 20th century. The company expanded after World War II to capture the booming tourist market in Waikiki with small shops offering swimwear, aloha wear and casual jewelry.
A subsidiary of Japanese retailer Seibu Group bought McInerny in the early 1970s and shifted its emphasis to resort stores, which were expanded to more than 30 locations.
InterPacific Hawaii Retail Group Ltd., which operated Andrade, Carol & Mary, and Water Wear Hawaii, acquired McInerny in the mid-1980s, merged the brands and closed the last nonresort locations four years ago.
Fallout from the 9/11 terrorist attacks exacerbated a declining sales trend, prompting McInerny's decision last year to exit.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
