Business briefs

Advertiser Staff

KB Toys shop opens at Sears

KB Toys is setting up "stores-within-stores" at 600 Sears, Roebuck and Co. stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, including two in Hawai'i, this holiday season.

The deal extends the relationship between the nation's largest chain of department stores and privately held KB Toys of Pittsfield, Mass.

Terms were not disclosed.

At the Ala Moana Sears, the KB Toys "store" opened earlier this week, though most other KB stores-within-stores will operate from mid-October through early January as part of the Sears Christmas Shop. A KB Toys operation is also being set up at the Pearlridge Sears.

Sears, which has 860 department stores, carried KB Toys' products at 29 stores in 2001, then 77 in 2002.

State agency clarifies sum

The state's Aloha Tower Development Corp. agreed to contribute up to $200,000 for a study to evaluate risks of a proposed mixed-use development project at Honolulu Harbor.

The agency, which oversees redevelopment of state-owned land around Aloha Tower, last week clarified an agreement with UC Urban initially described as committing the state to pay for $100,000 of study costs.

Texas-based UC Urban proposes leasing land at Piers 5 and 6 to build residences, offices, a hotel, ferry terminal, boat slips, a park, more parking for Aloha Tower Marketplace and a streetcar system linking the waterfront with the rest of downtown.