12-12-2013, 05:12 AM
People are willing to shop at Costco despite the long drive from Puna.
People are willing to shop at Walmart despite the long drive from Puna.
New shopping center in Pahoa has neither Walmart nor Costco.
There is simply no incentive to take on the effort/expense of building a new store.
(Funny thing, the Hilo Walmart is too small, it's often crowded, out of stock, sometimes there's even no shopping carts available. From where I sit, it's "obvious" that the east side needs a larger and/or second Walmart...)
Note also that "use DHHL land as a workaround for County planning/zoning" isn't a viable solution; DHHL is perfectly happy to grant exclusivity. (This is how the Lowe's plan fell through -- Depot got exclusive rights to DHHL lands within a certain distance of their store.)
But who cares when you have Amazon Prime? Now if only the post office were adequate...
People are willing to shop at Walmart despite the long drive from Puna.
New shopping center in Pahoa has neither Walmart nor Costco.
There is simply no incentive to take on the effort/expense of building a new store.
(Funny thing, the Hilo Walmart is too small, it's often crowded, out of stock, sometimes there's even no shopping carts available. From where I sit, it's "obvious" that the east side needs a larger and/or second Walmart...)
Note also that "use DHHL land as a workaround for County planning/zoning" isn't a viable solution; DHHL is perfectly happy to grant exclusivity. (This is how the Lowe's plan fell through -- Depot got exclusive rights to DHHL lands within a certain distance of their store.)
But who cares when you have Amazon Prime? Now if only the post office were adequate...