The downturn in tourism and consumer confidence has taken a small toll so far on Hawai'i's retail real estate market with vacant store space growing by 62,324 square feet in the first three months of this year, according to a survey by CB Richard Ellis.

The commercial real estate firm said most of the rise in vacancy happened at resort centers and community centers, though regional malls also shared in the trend.

CB Richard Ellis said 2.8 percent of retail space statewide was empty at the end of March, up from 2.5 percent at the end of last year. The first-quarter vacancy rate represented 392,284 square feet of empty space out of 14 million square feet.

"Vacancy, while still very low, will continue to rise while the market experiences more fallout from the current economic situation," the company said in the survey report.

The highest vacancy rate by property type was 9.4 percent at strip centers, where 2,256 square feet of space was emptied in the quarter. The lowest vacancy rate was 1 percent at regional malls, where 12,931 square feet of space was emptied in the quarter.

Resort centers had the highest increase in empty space at 28,717 square feet, which put the vacancy rate at 4.4 percent at the end of March. Community centers added 24,031 square feet of empty space, and had a vacancy rate of 2.5 percent.