In the early 1900s, Mankichi Miura started selling homemade Japanese candies and confections from a tiny store in Kapa'a on Kaua'i.

Four generations and nearly 100 years later, the company that still bears his name continues to thrive, but the business has evolved from a candy shop to a general store and now a swimwear and surf shop.

M. Miura Inc., which does business as Deja Vu Surf Hawai'i, has three stores on the Garden Island that carry a variety of swimwear and surfing accessories. And with store racks and shelves filled with bikinis, board shorts and paddle boards, what would Miura think if he were around today to see what his humble store has become?

"I think he would look at what we're doing and be proud," said Sara Miura, 27, Mankichi Miura's great-great-granddaughter, who joined the family business four years ago. "We're still offering our goods at fair prices. We're meeting the needs of our customers. We're active in our community and we care for our employees as if they were a part of our family."

ADAPTING TO CHANGES

Sara Miura said this has been the philosophy of the company since it began in 1909. Through the years, the Miuras have adapted to changes in the tastes and demands of their customers and that, she said, has been a key to their survival.

She said since 1920, the business has gone through a "slow transition" as the general store began to incorporate family clothing into its product line. The clothing did well, but in the late 1970s the company went through its most radical change when it shifted to a line of surfing products.

Miura's father, Tad; uncle, Eric; and aunt, Ann Yamamoto; made the decision to switch to the ocean-related concept. The three are the owners and operators of M. Miura Store.

"It was more their interest in surfing, more so than the demand that prompted them to move into surf retail," Sara Miura said. "The brothers enjoyed surfing in their free time and decided to look into that as a new direction for the store."

The Miuras changed the name of the store to Deja Vu Surf Hawai'i and brought in a whole new inventory of clothing and accessories. Sara Miura said the gamble paid off as business was brisk, and the family would soon open a second store and an outlet shop, which is in the site of the original M. Miura Store in Kapa'a.

Despite a difference in product line, Miura said her family has not changed its approach to doing business and continues to update the stores' inventory. With the popularity of standup paddle boards, the Miuras now carry a line of boards, paddles and accessories.

"We have to be responsive to our customers' needs," she said.

While growing up on Kaua'i, Miura said she didn't plan on joining her family's business. She went away to college and majored in elementary education, but realized quickly that her future was with her family.

"We have a very close family, and I wanted to spend time with my father," she said. "There were so many benefits to working with my father and his siblings, so it was very enticing and I decided that's what I wanted to do."

Miura said she sees herself someday taking over the company.

"I definitely want to see this business through," she said.

RARE SUCCESS STORY

M. Miura Inc. is a rarity in the retail world. It began in 1909 and has survived natural disasters, economic downturns and an influx of big-box retailers, not to mention a propensity of younger family members not to want to join the family business.

John Butler, director of the Family Business Center of Hawai'i at the University of Hawai'i Shidler College of Business, said only 10 percent of family operations reach the third generation. He guessed that only 1 in 100 make it to the fifth generation like the Miura family's company.

"The fact that it's a small business makes it even rarer because it's not like a family farm where the kids grow up, learn the farm and the oldest one inherits it," Butler said. "Retail is tough. A lot of young kids today, they want to work in air-conditioned offices, have holidays and weekends off. To be successful in retail, you've got to put in long hours."

Butler added that these businesses succeed because they are in touch with their customers and relate with them on a personal basis.

Sara Miura said the company hasn't really developed a succession plan as to who will take over and when that will occur. For now, she said, she and her family want to concentrate on serving the needs of their customers.

"We're not going anywhere," Miura said. "We've survived natural disasters and large discount retailers. We're here for our community and we're here for our employees, and that's the outlook that we have for our future."