Breaking a bag habit takes time
Shoppers on Maui and Kauai switch to paper or reusable sacks to carry their purchases

By Rosemarie Bernardo
Associated Press
Article From: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Some supermarkets in Maui and Kauai counties are hoping more customers will get into the habit of bringing reusable bags, as stores and shoppers experienced the first week of the new ban on plastic shopping bags.

For now, many retailers are absorbing the higher cost of providing paper bags.

“Paper bags are more expensive. It’s three or four times more (than plastic),” said Rod Sueoka, manager of Sueoka Store on Kauai.

Beginning last Tuesday, no business in Maui County, including restaurants, may provide nonbiodegradable bags to customers at checkout. Businesses are required to provide recyclable paper or reusable bags for sale or at no charge.

In Kauai County, all commercial businesses, including restaurants and takeout food businesses, are required to replace plastic with recyclable or biodegradable bags. Businesses that fail to comply with the new law face fines of up to $1,000 a day.

Sueoka’s, a family-run business in Koloa, provides paper bags at no charge for customers who don’t have a reusable bag. So far, a lot of customers have not brought bring their own reusable bags. Sueoka said he hopes they will get into the habit of bringing them to lessen the cost for retailers.

Kilauea Town Market charges its customers 19 cents for each thick, paper bag — a couple cents more than the wholesale cost to the retailer — since the ban took effect. A couple of customers have been bringing in some of their old plastic bags to carry out their groceries, said store manager Rosie Morimoto.

Her advice to customers: “You have old tank tops at home, sew the bottom together,” she said, recommending converting cotton tops to hold items.

Retailers have heard a number of customers say they miss the plastic bags because they would reuse them to line small trash containers in their bathrooms or to pick up after their dogs during walks.

On Maui, shoppers at Ah Fook’s Supermarket, a family-run market at the Kahului Shopping Center, receive a 5-cent credit when they use a reusable bag. Shoppers who do not have a reusable bag are charged a nickel for a paper bag. Though most customers are aware of the ban, they still forget to bring reusable bags, general manager Raymond Hew said.

Like Sueoka, Hew hopes more customers bring reusable bags to lessen the paper bag cost to retailers.

Gary Hanagami, executive director of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, said, “If a consumer is going to need paper, it’s going to cost the retailer more. It will then be passed on to the consumer.”

Incentives like the 5-cent credit at Ah Fook’s and reusable bags sold at discounted prices are being offered by retailers to help change consumer habits.

“Our retailers understand there’s an environmental problem, especially on the neighbor islands because we don’t have HPOWER,” Hanagami said.

At the family-owned Pukalani Superette in Makawao, Maui, 95 percent of the customers are aware of the new law, but a majority “have not got into the habit of bringing (reusable bags),” said store owner Myles Nakashima, anticipating that it will take a few months for customers to adjust to the new law.

For Pukalani customers, shoppers who spend $20 worth of items can buy a reusable bag for 50 cents. If the total is under $20, reusable bags can be purchased for 99 cents, 26 cents more than the wholesale cost to the retailer.

Nakashima suggested customers leave 10 reusable bags in their car, as customers have told him they left their bags at home after putting away groceries. “I got a dozen of them in my car,” he said.

Paper bags are provided at no charge to Pukalani customers who don’t have reusable bags. But the free paper bags will likely be temporary, as the store plans to eventually charge customers because of the higher cost for paper bags. “I don’t think we’ll be able to keep this up,” Nakashima said.

Click on the link below for a list of Bank Owned Homes on Maui or call 808-879-3667.

Hawaiian starts flights to S. Korea
The nonstop service is expected to generate $86.4 million in annual visitor spending here

By Dave Segal

Article from: The Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaiian Airlines, expanding its reach into Asia for the second time in less than two months, launched its inaugural flight to South Korea yesterday as the fast-growing carrier marked another milestone in its 81-year history.

The new nonstop, four-times-a-week service will bring 54,000 seats a year into the Hawaii market and is expected to generate about $86.4 million in annual visitor spending, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. South Korea’s inclusion in November 2008 in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which allows Koreans to travel to the U.S. without a visa, opened the door for Hawaiian to expand in Asia beyond Manila (April 2008) and Tokyo (November).

“As we think about where the growth opportunities are for us in the coming years, we’re already the undisputed leader in interisland travel, we’re the leader in travel between Hawaii and the U.S. mainland, and the natural spot for us, where we see a lot of growth in tourism coming to Hawaii, is from Asia,” Hawaiian Chief Financial Officer Peter Ingram said. “Today is a big step in terms of us becoming a leader in air travel between Hawaii and Asia.”

With Hawaiian music, hula, a blessing and a Korean cultural dance commemorating the occasion, just under 100 passengers comprising mostly business leaders and professionals boarded the afternoon flight for the 11-hour, 39-minute trip to Incheon International Airport, just outside Seoul. When they left Honolulu, the temperature was about 79 degrees under rainy conditions. The expected high today when they arrived in Seoul, which is 19 hours ahead of Hawaii, was 32 degrees with the temperature dropping to a low of 8 degrees.

About 240 passengers are expected on the seven-hour, 45-minute return leg on the 264-seat Boeing 767-300ER flight that is due to arrive in Honolulu at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

“Today’s launch of direct service to Incheon International Airport in Seoul is positive news for Hawaii’s visitor industry and another sign that our tourism economy is continuing to recover,” HTA President and Chief Executive Officer Mike McCartney said.

With Korean Air scheduled to increase its weekly flights between Seoul and Honolulu to 14 from 10 in February, that means the state will be on the receiving end of 18 flights a week from South Korea.

“This is another history-making day for Hawaiian as we expand even farther into Asia with our new flights to Seoul and introduce our unique brand of in-flight service that promotes the Hawaii and travel experience,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian president and CEO, in a statement. Dunkerley flew to Seoul ahead of Hawaiian’s inaugural flight for meetings and to greet the flight upon its arrival.

Through the first 11 months of 2010, 79,131 Koreans visited Hawaii, up 75.3 percent from 45,148 during the same period a year earlier, according to the HTA. For all of 2010, the HTA is projecting 92,180 visitors, a 79.5 percent increase over 51,353 in 2009.

The HTA is projecting 115,225 Koreans will visit Hawaii this year, up 25 percent from its 2010 projection, and forecasts visitor spending from Korea to increase 38.2 percent this year to $230.2 million from a projected $166.6 million in 2010.

Dennis Teranishi, CEO of Hawaiian Host Inc., said his company’s business will get a boost from the Hawaii-Seoul flight because Hawaiian will be serving Hawaiian Host chocolates with meals in both economy and first class. Hawaiian also serves Hawaiian Host chocolates on its flights to Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.

“We’re also on Korean Airlines, but those are in-flight sales where they’re selling our chocolates on the airplane as gifts,” he said.

Austin Kang, president of Coral Creek Golf Course in Ewa Beach, said he’s ready for an influx of Korean visitors and has a Korean brochure and website ready as well as Korean staff that can take phone calls.

“The numbers show how many people are coming from Korea, and they’re spending,” Kang said. “The only market booming right now is the Korean market and it’s increasing more than 50 percent a year. So we’re expecting many people to come to Hawaii and help our state.”

Ingram, the CFO, said Hawaiian likely will announce another flight to Asia, most likely to Japan, later this year. Hawaiian began flying to Haneda in November after winning one of four slots that were awarded to U.S. carriers.

“We do see some other options and some alternatives for growth in Japan,” he said. “We think there are some very viable alternatives and we would like to be announcing something in the next several months and hopefully be flying that route before the end of 2011. Obviously, flying to Tokyo is one alternative, but there are other places in Japan that would like our service.”

By TRICIA MORRIS
President Premiere Mortgage

Entering the New Year in the midst of the Hawaiian season of Makahiki, a time of peace, spirituality, games and celebration, I watched the news as our friends in New York City tried to dig out of a massive Northeast snowstorm and I once again realized why we live on Maui.
Although today the temperature is 81 degrees with light trade winds cooling the heat of the day while naturally freshening the air, it wasn’t that we were warm and the city was cold. The lovely days and nights on Maui are a blessing and not a prize to be kept from the enjoyment of others.
As the real estate market moderates, prices are increasingly bringing smart buyers into the market.  Realtors tell me it is not unusual to receive multiple offers on their best properties, as the realization grows that a good deal won’t last long.
Value and investment opportunities are good reasons to be in the real estate market as our recovery slowly continues to build strength. They are also excellent reasons to buy on Maui. But, there is more to the Maui story. Maui is also a location for friends and family to come together and share memories like no other.
Some say, “You do not choose Maui, Maui chooses you.” She chooses you with her diverse, talented and energetic people. Maui is in recovery faster than the rest of the state and has steadily improved relative to the mainland.
Maui chooses when the generosity of the community is shown time and time again as those in need or perhaps facing a life crisis are helped by their neighbors and friends, including the efforts of countless members of the Realtors Association of Maui.
The lingering sunsets choose you. Long walks on the beach, the full moon settling into the deep blue of the Pacific Ocean, the return of playful whales each winter, all are offered to those who live on Maui.
Want to go out to dinner? The variety to choose from is as diverse as the people of Maui themselves. A quick list—not meant to be all-inclusive—might include Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Mexican, Thai, Chinese, French, Filipino, with even more in between. Add to that world-class resorts that include award-winning restaurants and Maui brings a wonderful variety of tastes to the senses.
The Maui lifestyle is a healthy life style. Farmer’s markets have blossomed in recent years until now not a day goes by where there is not a Farmer’s Market open and doing a brisk business somewhere on the island. Hawaii is the leading state in terms of longevity at 81.7 years compared to 78.0 years nationally, according to Kaiser heath state facts.
Maui also supports several successful markets offering organic vegetables, meat, fish, poultry and many other fine products. The market for fresh locally grown produce and locally produced products is expected to continue to grow as the island embraces the idea of sustainability and more reliance on local resources.
An example of this trend is the increasing use of photovoltaic installations on the roofs of building (both commercial and residential) to generate electrical power for their needs. And no, you’re eyes aren’t playing tricks on you; those really are windmills on the mountain with more planned in hidden spots Upcountry. Maui is one of the leaders in Hawaii in the use of wind power as an alternative energy source, saving millions of gallons of oil each year.
Maui offers a number of music, theater, film, dance and cultural options. Festivals fill the months, many with free admission and great local food. Top attractions and performers visit the Maui Arts and Cultural Center on a regular basis. One recent appearance was by the actor Hal Holbrook in his presentation of “Mark Twain Tonight,” complete with his uncanny appearance and the wit of the original Mr. Twain.
Grammy Award winning Hawaiian musicians entertain throughout the island in clubs, restaurants and resorts. The Maui Film Festival each year bring the stars out at night with wonderful films and award presentations. Clint Eastwood is one of the award winners in recent years.
Local theater is alive and well on Maui and we even have our own historic theater for plays, events and movies, in Wailuku on Market Street. The Iao Theater is reported to have been a location for the premiere of theDevil at Four O’Clock starring Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra and filmed on Maui in 1961.
Don’t forget the canoe races that captivate the island each spring, summer and fall. The competitions between the various canoe clubs on Maui and between Maui and the other islands is stiff but always done fairly. There is also windsurfing, paddle boarding (Maui is the home to the origin of the sport), kite surfing, snorkeling, diving, fishing, golf and tennis. If you enjoys sports, Maui may choose you if you aren’t careful.
With the New Year come new beginnings. Even in Washington, DC, they may start talking to each other and getting the work done. Maybe not everyone wins all the time, but we can do it together.
It has been a good year and this one will be even better. That’s the Maui message and a good one to choose to share —from our family to yours.
Happy New Year.
 

Hawaii’s Premiere Mortgage Company, with offices on Maui and Kaua‘i, offers extensive loan options through both
broker and banking services. Tricia Morris and her team of professionals may be reached on Maui, in Kihei,
at 874-8800, in Wailea, at 891-8900, in West Maui at 665-8800, on Kaua‘i at 808-822-2300, or toll free at
(800)813-7711

December’s Median SALES prices – Home median prices rose to $465,706 and Condo median prices rose slightly to $355,747. Land median price was $394,850.

Disclaimer: Zooming in on the figures of a specific geographic area or property type may lead to different conclusions than the overall view. Maui’s market place is much smaller than Oahu’s, and a few high or low sales have a greater effect on the statistical numbers without necessarily indicating a big market swing one way or another.

SOURCE: REALTORS Association of Maui – http://www.RAMaui.com

**Additional statistics and graphs for 2010 are available for specific regions and for the island as a whole.  If you would like additional graphs and/or information please email Clinthansen33@gmail.com