BUSINESS BRIEFS
AT&T Wireless service goes down
Advertiser Staff and News Services
AT&T Wireless customers statewide were left without cell phone service for more than six hours yesterday by a power outage.
Company officials said the disruption in cellular service was the result of a power outage at an AT&T facility, in the Mililani Technology Park, that houses switching equipment.
Service was restored by about 1:30 p.m. to virtually all customers statewide, said Courtney Pendleton, an AT&T spokesman in San Diego.
The disruption at around 6:45 a.m affected all AT&T cell phone users in the state.
AT&T said it is company policy not to disclose the number of customers it has in a specific market.
HOTEL ROOM BIDS BENEFIT FOOD BANKS
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawai'i yesterday launched an online auction for Hawai'i residents, offering deals on hotel stays and spa treatments, to benefit the Hawai'i Food Bank.
Big Give Hawai'i, an online auction of spa treatment and hotel deals — with hotel room rates starting as low as $80 a night — offers a slice of the proceeds to benefit the Hawai'i Food Bank and food banks on the Neighbor Islands.
It opened on the Web — at www.biggivehawaii.com — at 12:01 a.m. yesterday and runs until midnight Nov. 30. The deals are for use between Dec. 8 and Jan. 31.
Winning bidders must show proof of Hawai'i residency.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawai'i is offering 1,000 room packages with as much as 80 percent off rates, and 20 percent of the proceeds will benefit food banks.
Starwood hopes to raise $40,000 for the food banks.
ML MACADAMIA STOCK MOVE PUT OFF
ML Macadamia Orchard L.P.'s shares won't move off the New York Stock Exchange today as planned, to give the company more time to transition to the OTC Bulletin Board.
The New York Stock Exchange previously had said trading of the shares would be suspended prior to the market opening today because the Hilo company's market capitalization had fallen below the exchange's listing standards.
ML Macadamia said the shares will now be suspended before the market opening on Tuesday.
The company's shares closed yesterday down 1 cent at $2.20.
HOKU SCIENTIFIC SHARES RATED 'HOLD'
Shares of Honolulu-based technology company Hoku Scientific were rated "hold" in coverage initiated at Ardour Capital, according to www.briefing.com.
Hoku, which is building a polysilicon manufacturing plant in Idaho and has a photovoltaic solar panel installation business in Hawai'i, has a price target of $3 a share, said Ardour, an investment company.
Hoku's shares fell 38 cents to $2.49, a 52-week low.
CLOTHING STORE EXPRESS OPENS TODAY
Men's and women's clothing retailer Express will open its first store in Hawai'i today at Ala Moana Center.
Kumu Sherman Thompson of Kamehameha Schools is scheduled to perform a traditional Hawaiian blessing before the store opens at 9:30 a.m.
"Ala Moana presents an opportunity for us to not only have a wonderful and productive store, but to bring Express' unique fashion point of view to what is truly Honolulu's most fashionable, cosmopolitan environment," said Michael Weiss, the company's president and chief executive officer.
