Ward shops learn value of local clientele

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

Three separate clothing businesses in Ward Warehouse have all learned a simple, but expensive lesson: If the merchandise doesn't move, spend the money to change it.

Sisters Laurie Rodriguez, left, and Pat Perreira made adjustments to their inventory when they opened their Little People Hawaii shop at Ward Warehouse. They knew their clothes and toys had to reflect the local market. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

But they all share the same experience of having to drastically shift their inventories to meet the decidedly more local clientele at Ward Warehouse — while still stocking things that appeal to tourists.

It can take a gambler's nerve to pull off. But it's the only way that Villa Roma, Hoelzel and Little People Hawaii know how to do business.

"We really had to revamp our thinking of who we are and what we would specialize in," said Audrey Fu, the owner of Villa Roma. "I redid everything."

Fu had to figure out what clothes she would carry when she moved her store from Ala Moana Center to Ward Warehouse 12 years ago. Then Fu had to do it again two years ago when she closed her Chocolates For Breakfast store in Ward Warehouse and merged the two inventories into a single 990-square-foot space.

It took Fu two years to get rid of the last of $20,000 worth of old merchandise, which she finally sold on sale.

The clothes were "very fashionable, expensive and for people who have figures that are very trim," Fu said.

Two years later, Fu believes she's finally found the right mix.

"I feel like we really have melded it all together," Fu said. "This is the year we're doing it just right."

Andrea Hoelzel shipped in nearly $90,000 worth of womens' business suits and dresses that she had sold successfully in Europe for years.

When she opened her new store in Ward Warehouse on a Sunday morning in July 1998, Hoelzel set out pastries, chilled some champagne and waited for her first customer.

She kept on waiting throughout the entire afternoon.

By the time she polished off the champagne by herself, Hoelzel had figured out that local people predominantly shop at Ward Warehouse and they aren't interested in elegant business suits.

"That first day, I realized that something is wrong here," Hoelzel said.

Hoelzel made a few sales to a single customer on her first day, but immediately began making plans to ship the entire inventory back to Europe and invest another $80,000 to $90,000 in more forgiving clothes.

"I needed the more flow-ey style, not fitted jackets with little tops underneath," Hoelzel said. "I needed loose jackets and suits and linens."

Hoelzel also quickly realized that Hawai'i women come in dramatically different sizes — from extra small to 5X. She also brought in a much larger price range of items, from $29 to $400.

Hoelzel now also stocks Hawaiiana prints and patterns for the 20 percent of tourists who buy at her store and continue to order through her Web site, www.summerbreezehawaii.com.

Hoelzel has since filled her 725-square foot store with $130,000 worth of new merchandise and isn't embarrassed about her initial miscalculation.

"I'm somebody who jumps right in," Hoelzel said. "I've always been that way."

Laurie Rodriguez and her sister Pat Perreira are also betting on the inventory adjustments they've made to their latest Little People Hawaii store.

They opened their first two stores in separate Outrigger Hotels in Waikiki 12 years ago. Initially, Rodriguez and Perreira primarily stocked easily portable childrens' toys aimed at tourists.

"We wanted to cover the needs of a family traveling," Perreira said.

But they quickly discovered that it took as much effort to sell a $5 toy as a $30 outfit.

"We were really, really busy ... but your sales on small items just don't add up," Rodriguez said. "So we started adding clothing."

At the same time, customers were asking for childrens' hula skirts, swim wear and matching aloha clothes for every child in the family.

"Then our main customer became not little kids buying this and that," Rodriguez said. "It became grandma and auntie and uncle — adults buying for little kids."

Rodriguez and Perreira shifted their inventory over the next two years so that 60 percent is focused on clothes.

But when they opened their third Little People Hawaii store in Ward Warehouse in November, Rodriguez and Perreira knew they would have to start over with an entire new mix for a predominantly local market.

"Local people definitely have a different taste," Rodriguez said. "The local people say, 'Oh this is so cute. But it says Hawai'i on it.' So they put it back. The tourists come in and say, 'Oh this is really, really cute. But it doesn't say Hawai'i.' And they put it back. That's the difference."

To go along with the more popular clothes they sell to tourists, Rodriguez and Perreira also stock their Ward Warehouse store with unusual items, such as outfits with embroidered appliques or dresses with individually sewn sequins.

And the toys are sturdy, often educational and too big to conveniently squeeze into a suitcase.

Rodriguez and Perreira also believe that they have to keep revolving their inventory at their Ward Warehouse store to draw repeat, local customers.

"In Waikiki, we could sell the same hula skirt for 10 years and people will still get excited," Rodriguez said. "You couldn't do that in a local market. It's impossible."

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