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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Big Aloha bids aloha, for now

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

One lady came back twice one day and a third time the next. On her last trip, she bought so many cookies, Henry Mizumoto had to help her carry all the boxes to her car.

"I can't believe you went through all those cookies," Mizumoto told the woman.

She grinned. "What? It lasted us the whole day."

This was a happy exchange. Others at Big Aloha cookies are ending with tears these days. Will folks ever be able to find coconut shrimp cookies again?

Mizumoto isn't sure. After almost four years of creating upscale boutique cookies in a tiny bakery and retail store at 1909 S. King St., he's closing his shop on Saturday.

"Try these," Wendy Miyashiro-Wong says, opening a plastic container. "They're my favorite."

She says that about several different types of cookies, each more exotic and instantly addictive than the one before. Even though she and Vi Cantere work as Mizumoto's right and left hands making, packaging and selling the cookies, they haven't gotten tired of the tastes.

And how could you, with creations like macadamia-arare-nori cookies or lemon cookies so tart and light they burst in your mouth like cold pop rocks?

Mizumoto hasn't done much advertising for Big Aloha Cookies. He has benefited from international word of mouth. Loyal local customers will brave King Street parking to snag bags of his creations at $6.95 each. Folks from the Neighbor Islands stop by for omiyage on their way back to the airport. Charter buses and limousines stop on the street to bring Japanese tourists to the tiny store. The guest book bears signatures from all over the world.

Mizumoto seems surprised and humbled by the adoration his baking receives.

He recounts the time a bride asked him to make a designer wedding cake for her reception on the Big Island. She paid for Mizumoto to fly the cake to the party — air, room and car, plus a first-class ticket for the cake. "The cake had it's own seat!" he says.

But that's how much people love his work.

Mizumoto is an artist, one of those happy, productive artists who blends creativity with practicality, intuition with calculation. When he's baking, he will even compensate for the weather.

It's been a bit stormy lately.

He is closing the store because he couldn't come to terms with the building owner on the lease. He and business partner Ron Eschenlauer have been looking for a new location, but it has to be just right. He's planning to take some time off to rest, and then see what happens.

Mizumoto's employees are waiting to see what he does, too.

Miyashiro-Wong will take a receptionist position while she waits, but says, "That's not my thing."

Cantere says: "I'm going to be a housewife until Henry opens up again. I'm not working for anybody else but Henry."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.