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+--- Thread: PUNA VILLAGE (/showthread.php?tid=1430)
PUNA VILLAGE - lady - 09-30-2007
The village is so cute but could use some fixing up. We stayed a month at a home rental and visited the area every other day. More variety of dinner establishments would be nice. Keep working on a "Local Fun Place."
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - emorata - 10-01-2007
i wonder why some of the retail storefronts are perpetually closed....are the costs just too expensive or is the turnover just a factor of life on this strip....i already miss the iced tropical flavors place that was short lived....i would love to see a bakery/eatery/gallery type place come up and would support this regularly if it comes into fruition.....is there something going into godmothers anytime soon?
noel
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - emorata - 10-01-2007
it would be nice to have another art gallery opened....the few that did set up shop just didn't make it - i'm assuming financially, but it would be nice if we could somehow get funds to sponsor a gallery space/center on some public funds....would draw more tourists to this area to support the local economy.
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - emorata - 10-01-2007
Does anyone have suggestions on what types of businesses can survive if they opened up on this strip?
This relates(similar/business mentality) to the area where i live in guerneville, ca....a summer destination/tourist place but not enough business to support a tourist mentality year round and depending on the business has to really fit a need for the local community to support it year round....those that have survived have been there for awhile and have low rents...lots of turnover on the newer types of businesses coming into the picture.
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - Kelena - 10-01-2007
Seems like what it lacks to me is: 1) Signage, and 2) Walkability.
You can't get from one side of the street to the other without a mad dash. Deters strolling. Maybe it could be closed off on weekends or some stoplights could be put in. The two sides of the street need to be better connected. Could use some paint, too. The volcano sign on the cash and carry is wonderful though. You could echo that theme on a sign that spans the road and says "Pahoa". When I first came to Pahoa, I though the Malama Market area was Pahoa. Then I was informed there was another Pahoa down the road. Having the two separate Pahoas is what is killing the "real" Pahoa. I love the Malama Market plaza (practical), but it is suffocating downtown Pahoa. In an ideal world, it would have been located downtown.
Pele may ask us to start over.
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - emorata - 10-01-2007
I would love to have some type of local bbq place at the godmothers location....bbq cal bi, bbq chicken, bbq chicken wings, bbq ribs....anything bbq with two sides and a nice big slice of (fill in the blank for dessert)
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - Carolann R - 10-01-2007
Noel, the rent for one of the storefronts is really high, and there's often so much work that needs to be done too...some are very rundown I think. A co-op of somekind would be great. The Natural Food Store is great, but again - the organics there are costly and for us the Maku'u Market for our veggies is more affordable.
I love Puna Style. Her store has a great mix of things for locals and tourists too. We go there very often for birthday and Christmas gifts. My kids love it when they come and we also like Jungle Love. Things are affordable too...these stores are not so upscale that the locals can't afford it.
Love the idea of a gallery, but again it would mean there would have to be a clientele for it which is more upscale...seems like there's the rub. The new trend of doing Giclee reproductions is much more affordable and would be a great way to promote local art that is affordable as well. So if there was a gallery that offered both original and reproductions that would be nice.
Wouldn't it be great if someone came in and did what they are doing at the Pahoa Marketplace and either rebuilt or refurbished the storefronts so they were safe and clean? They could keep with the theme of Old Pahoa Town and have the boardwalk extend either side so it would be more easily accessible. Maybe some consignment type stores that would allow local artists and others to display and sell their work for a small fee.
In Arizona near where we lived we had an antique mall. That was cool. This large warehouse type facility was split up into stalls and people sold all sorts of antiques and collectibles and the mall got a small percentage of each sale as well as a monthly rent for the stall. I wonder what kind of Hawai'iana things would show up in a mall like that here? It would be fun to see.
Thanks for letting me rattle on. Your recent questions about Pahoa and the Markets have gotten the creative ideas rolling around my head, Noel!
Carrie
"All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it." Bob Newhart
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - emorata - 10-01-2007
actually carrie, i've thought about consignment shops, but i think that venue might be more successful in hilo...where someone converts a large building and charges spaces to consign stalls of anything antiques/art/whatever.
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - JerryCarr - 10-01-2007
Glen makes some good points. There IS a marked crosswalk at Luquin's, but drivers tend to ignore the law that they must yield to pedestrians entering it. Bear and I were out for dinner in Pahoa with some friends for his birthday last weekend, and we nearly got run over in the crosswalk by a scowling driver who said something (probably obscene) as he passed.
As noted by others, rents are high and standards of maintenance are low in the "real" Pahoa. This has no doubt contributed to the success of the "other" Pahoa. Yes, genteel shabbiness may be chic in Pahoa, but certain minimum levels of functionality and orderliness still need to prevail to attract solid businesses.
Cheers,
Jerry
RE: PUNA VILLAGE - Carey - 10-01-2007
For the crosswalks, the lighted type they have just installed in Hilo & have been at Volcano by the Lodge would help some to stop.
Hilo is working on having a large consignment mall in the old Western Auto Building. Thought it was to be already, but it is not, so maybe soon??
Some of the issues that downtown Pahoa face are parking, maintenance of older buildings that have not been kept up, accessibilty issues for those that do (raised sidewalks & older facilities create havoc when you try to upgrade...)
There has been a long period were there was no monetary advantage to upgrading a facility (for decades the housing/land prices were fairly stagnant) I know that a portion of my older neighbors (some of whom have diverse land holdings) still think of the land value deflation of the 90's & do not place high confidence in the fact that land values are here to stay. They have told us that investing money in upkeep may not pay off if there is another devaluation...
Edited by - carey on 10/01/2007 12:19:30