Wal-Mart revels in excitement of opening day

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

A stream of shoppers washed into a sea of blue-vested Wal-Mart employees yesterday morning as the world's largest retailer opened its first urban store on O'ahu at the Ke'eau-moku superblock near Ala Moana Center.

Rosemarie Vailisale of Palama, with her baby, Leila, confronts the shopping traffic at Wal-Mart's store on Ke'eaumoku Street. Hundreds of shoppers crowded into the store yesterday, its opening day. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

"This is the cheapest store," said Poly Trajano, a Kalihi resident who showed up with $300 in his pocket at 4:30 a.m. because someone told him the store opened at that time.

Unintentionally, Trajano was first in line, but he didn't mind waiting 4 1/2 hours to spend his money on food, batteries, car accessories and other items. "I will come to this store all the time," he said.

Ella Samuel and her friend Lui Falenofafoa walked to the store several miles from Waiakamilo Street in Kapalama.

"It's part of our exercise," said Samuel, 52. "We knew on the first opening day traffic is heavy and parking is hard, so we walked. We just came to browse."

But traffic was not a hassle.

The second customer in line was Jadeen Malama, who lives on Makaloa Street next to the store. She said she got up early and arrived at 5:15 a.m. because she thought there would be prizes for the first 200 people in the door.

Wal-Mart offered no prizes, special sale items or gimmicks — just its "everyday low prices." No matter. Malama was happy to shop for Christmas presents, an air conditioner, laundry items, clothing and food.

"I feel good because it's close to where I stay," compared with the Wal-Mart stores in Kunia or Mililani.

While shoppers like Malama waited outside, Wal-Mart employees Kristi Moe and Chiyo Smith memorialized the event by taking their own picture together with Smith's digital camera.

"We just want to remember it all because it's so exciting," Moe said.

Just inside the doors, next to stacks of 20-pound bags of Shirakiku-brand rice, store manager Walter Lott led an employee rally and blessing ceremony before welcoming the customers.

"Good morning," he said to a couple hundred associates dressed in Wal-Mart's signature blue jackets.

Employees Kristi Moe, left, and Chiyo Smith captured their excitement before customers entered the Ke'eaumoku Street Wal-Mart store, which opened for its first day of business yesterday. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

After a round of thanks, a prayer, untying of a maile lei and a rally chant that included the spelling out of W-A-L-M-A-R-T, shoppers were welcomed in to employee applause.

Philip Kuala, a Kapahulu resident who caught the bus to Wal-Mart, was the store's second customer.

He spent $4 on four Halloween candy baskets. "I wanted to go to the first grand opening," he said. "I'm so happy they made Wal-Mart so convenient for everybody in town."

Early first-day sales exceeded expectations, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said, although she wouldn't provide exact sales figures or say how the first day's business compared with other store openings.

Business is expected to pick up substantially on the weekend, Lin said, adding, "We've known all along that customers have wanted a Wal-Mart store in town, and they showed up in droves."

Edward Ho, a retiree from Kapahulu, said he drove to the store just to look around. He ate some cake put out by Paul Lin, an optometrist operating the in-store vision center. "It's good," Ho said of the cake, adding that he will regularly shop at the store because Wal-Mart's Mililani and Kunia stores are "too far."

Not all the preparations to open the store were pulled off smoothly. An ice machine that bags its own ice had technical difficulties. And construction wasn't finished on the in-store L&L Drive-Inn, which had planned to serve up pupu-style samples yesterday before its opening in a few weeks.

Outside, about 25 protesters peacefully displayed signs expressing their frustration over how Wal-Mart handled the discovery of human bones during store construction.

"Bury Iwi," read one sign. "Built on Graves," said another.

The Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. recently complained that the iwi, or bones, should have been reburied before the store opening.

Families recognized as descendants submitted two competing reburial plans and met last weekend to resolve their differences, according to Dan Davidson, deputy director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the agency that oversees the state native burials law. However, he said, they were unable to come to terms.

The store's regular hours will be from 6 a.m. to midnight. A 150,000-square-foot members-only Sam's Club is scheduled to open next Thursday on top of Wal-Mart.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.