Toy bear adoption extends family ties
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sharon Reynolds saw a custom teddy bear shop in San Diego and transformed the idea into a Hawai'i version for her sisters, brother and their spouses.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
The family has learned a few lessons about the retail trade since then — like the difference between being in Ala Moana Center and Pearlridge Center. But one thing they've maintained is their promise of a democratically run family business.
Store managers and relatives Cathy Lee and Sharon Reynolds hold some of the stuff-your-own bears sold at Hanai Bear at Pearlridge: from left, Waffles, Bannanas, Bow wow and Sparkles, which sell for $19 to $21.
The nine partners — four couples related by blood and marriage and one of their sons — swear they've never had a family squabble in the two years doing business as Hanai Bear, now located in Pearlridge Center Uptown.
"People all said our family will fall apart," said Sharon's husband, Ron. "But our family got closer."
That's hard to imagine.
Sharon's sister, Cathy, interrupted a party on Sharon's patio in 1995 to announce that she and Larry Lee were getting married on the spot. Several years before, the entire family and their spouses joined Sharon and Cathy's sister, Ruby, on her Maui honeymoon.
To this day, the sprawling family meets for Sunday supper every week at the Wahiawa home of Clara Yamada, mother to Sharon Reynolds, 56, Jack Yamada, 54, Cathy Lee, 52, and Ruby Tatsuno, 50.
The rest of the week, the siblings and their spouses work their day jobs or take shifts at the store.
Everyone brings different talents to the operation, said Sharon and Ron's son, Matt, 26.
Where: Pearlridge Center Uptown, across from Gymboree, near K B Toys. Phone: 949-BEAR (2327). On the Web: www.hanaibearhawaii.com
Cathy has a degree in fashion merchandising from the University of Hawai'i and is largely responsible for the miniature Hawaiian bear clothes that make up half the store's sales. Larry is a counselor at Kamehameha Schools and hires the 11 part-time workers.
Hanai Bear
Jack keeps the operation's computers running. Ron, an optometrist, organizes issues for the group and is in charge of marketing. Lance Tatsuno, Ruby's husband, is a certified public accountant who handles the finances.
Sharon, Cathy and Matt work at the store full-time.
Their formula has rung up $600,000 in annual sales, and businesses has jumped 20 percent since Hanai Bear moved out of Ala Moana and into Pearlridge in April.
"We're not wildly profitable," Larry said. "But we're doing OK. Everybody gets paid, and we pay all of our bills."
In 2001, Sharon walked into a teddy bear shop and saw customers selecting, stuffing and dressing the merchandise. She had taught elementary school in Hawai'i for 14 years, and liked the way children were enchanted by transforming the bears.
She and Ron did some research and learned that the concept was neither a franchise nor a licensing agreement.
They held meeting after meeting, and in the end everyone agreed to commit and chip in $5,000 each.
The idea needed a touch of local style.
The name Hanai Bear comes from the Hawaiian term for a foster or adopted child. And the families introduced a pledge each child must say before inserting a heart-shaped piece of felt among the stuffing:
"Hanai Bear, what a treat. The cutest pal I'll ever meet. I promise lots of hugs and fun. You'll always be my No. 1."
The owners invested in merchandise and machines to fill the bears with hypoallergenic polyester stuffing. Then they signed a temporary lease at Ala Moana for a 700-square-foot kiosk in the food court.
Four days after they opened, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks happened.
But by Christmas, sales had picked up. The store's computer system prints out a "certificate of adoption" for every customer and tracks their home communities. It found that 60 percent of the customers were local, mostly from 'Aiea, Pearl City, Mililani, Wahiawa and 'Ewa Beach. The remaining 40 percent were tourists.
After a brief move to a more deserted spot at Ala Moana, Hanai Bear's lease expired, and the business moved to Pearlridge.
The monthly rent was $10,000 less, and the site was much bigger, at 3,400 square feet. But the move meant gambling that an increase in military business would make up for a drop in tourists.
The families were right about one thing: Nearly all the tourism trade died. But they were surprised that military families from as far away as Kane'ohe more than made up the difference.
The families are now in the middle of the three- to five-year commitment they made. They've been happy with sales and that they've never had a reason to bicker.
"Basically we just said, 'Let's see how far this thing takes us,' " Sharon said.
