03-17-2010, 07:15 AM
There is a lot of untapped money-making potential in HPP, a subdivision with thousands of people but not a single shop.
I'm sure there's some good reason why there is no retail there, you'd have to find some way around it, e.g. by delivering. I haven't found anyone who will deliver pizza.
The internet cafe in Pahoa (in that shopping area on the outskirts, with the gas station and Malama Market) was called Aloha Outpost but also some other names before that, Aloha Cafe? You might be able to find references to it by searching in this forum. I liked to go there every once in a while for a blast of high-speed internet, after suffering dial-up speeds all day. You could use their computers or bring your own laptop. They tried various pricing structures over the years, I thought they charged too little for all-day wi-fi but maybe they figured you would spend money on the food and drinks. I was glad to do so but the staff sometimes made it a bit difficult by ignoring customers and taking sometimes up to 10 minutes to make a smoothie. When they removed some of my favorite items from the menu I stopped dropping by.
When I see other places in the world where you have multiple internet cafes in one street, surely Puna could support one or two?
Aloha Outpost had a bit of a hippy feel to it, which was fun but perhaps something a bit more Starbucks-like would do better. It could become a de facto business center for the area, and everyone likes comfy chairs.
Edit: I think it was first called Aloha Outpost and then Punatic Cyber Cafe.
I'm sure there's some good reason why there is no retail there, you'd have to find some way around it, e.g. by delivering. I haven't found anyone who will deliver pizza.
The internet cafe in Pahoa (in that shopping area on the outskirts, with the gas station and Malama Market) was called Aloha Outpost but also some other names before that, Aloha Cafe? You might be able to find references to it by searching in this forum. I liked to go there every once in a while for a blast of high-speed internet, after suffering dial-up speeds all day. You could use their computers or bring your own laptop. They tried various pricing structures over the years, I thought they charged too little for all-day wi-fi but maybe they figured you would spend money on the food and drinks. I was glad to do so but the staff sometimes made it a bit difficult by ignoring customers and taking sometimes up to 10 minutes to make a smoothie. When they removed some of my favorite items from the menu I stopped dropping by.
When I see other places in the world where you have multiple internet cafes in one street, surely Puna could support one or two?
Aloha Outpost had a bit of a hippy feel to it, which was fun but perhaps something a bit more Starbucks-like would do better. It could become a de facto business center for the area, and everyone likes comfy chairs.
Edit: I think it was first called Aloha Outpost and then Punatic Cyber Cafe.