Chinatown merchants get boost as bus riders return

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Trel Aguinaldo was all smiles as customers returned to the Maunakea Marketplace stall she owns with her sisters in Chinatown, where business is starting to pick up with the return of shoppers who relied on TheBus for transportation. Photos by Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The return of bus service brought loads of passengers to Chinatown again, giving hope to area businesses, which have seen sales decline 50 percent to 70 percent during the 33-day, island-wide bus strike. Chinatown was one of the communities hardest hit by the strike.

The end of the five-week-old bus strike on Monday meant Tanoa could return to his regular Chinatown shopping routine.

Tanoa's $13 purchase of produce also represented the long economic crawl that Chinatown merchants began to take this week, one sale at a time.

As one of the communities hardest hit by the island-wide bus strike, Chinatown is normally filled every day with retirees and working-class, budget-conscious shoppers who rely on TheBus for basic transportation. The loss of bus service over the 33-day-old strike suddenly dropped Chinatown merchants into an economic hole in which sales plummeted from 50 percent to 70 percent, they said.

Buses once again hissed, lurched and rumbled through Chinatown streets yesterday like the old days. But store owners said sales still have not returned to pre-strike levels.

Much of the continued decline, they said, could be from downtown bus riders who changed their commutes during the strike and no longer stop off in Chinatown to shop.

But for whatever reason sales are still down, store owners say it will be hard to make up for the thousands of dollars they lost in business and from spoiled produce, fish and meats that weren't sold.

Howard Montgomery, the owner of Big Ono Bake Shop in Kekaulike Market, estimates the strike cost him at least $5,000 in lost sales. He laid off one worker, didn't replace another and cut back the hours of a third. At the same time, Montgomery had to raise prices 12 percent to 15 percent to try and make up the difference.

"Everybody loses," Montgomery said as he prepared butter rolls dipped in corn meal for the oven.

Several other business owners — particularly those who sell fresh produce, meat and seafood — said they can't raise prices because savvy Chinatown shoppers know the value of the items they carry in their shops and kiosks.

"In Chinatown they are very, very smart shoppers," said Paul Min, the owner of You Market II. "You cannot raise the price. You go any higher and they won't come back anymore. Customers know prices."

Sue Law and her husband, brother and mother who all work for their family's Cheap Market Kahuku Farmer market compensated for the 50 percent drop-off in business by not drawing any salaries during the strike.

"No customers," Law said. "We just had to hang in and wait for TheBus to come back."

But there have been signs that business may soon return to normal.

Owners and employees at several cigarette kiosks said the 50 percent to 70 percent decline during the strike has rebounded completely.

Phanh Navong measured the difference before and after TheBus strike by the response to a tub of choy sum she set out yesterday for $1.39 per pound.

Navong's Phanh's Market sits beside a Hotel Street bus stop and riders waiting for buses leaped at the choy sum. In a matter of seconds, the tub of Chinese cabbage disappeared into the hands of bus passengers.

Just like the days before the strike.

"That's the one they always fight over," Navong said, staring at the empty tub on the sidewalk outside her store. "Sometimes they even push each other and fall down and get hurt."

Even though sales haven't returned to normal, the response to the choy sum yesterday gave Navong hope.

"We're very happy TheBus has come back," she said.

Reach Dan Nakaso at 525-8085 or dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.