12.30.2007

Keeping Kailua Kailua Kailua Kailua ...


I was surprised to get a comment from a reader who evidently thought, by the Whole Foods blog posted on this site, that I intended to invite people to move here, and to have Safeway build a gigantor store in Kailua.

First of all, I want to say that this is NOT what I intended, and that that particular blog item was written, at a minimum, tongue-in-cheek, and was actually intended to be ironic. I apologize!! But you have to agree, dear reader, that here in Hawaii we rush to the new, else we wouldn't have the world's most profitable Costco, Walmart, etc. but that wasn't my point.

The reader said we don't want to be another Carmel, California (although it would be funny to have Clint Eastwood as our Mayor had we ever succeeded at seceding when Frank Fasi ran the City & County). With no offense intended to the gentle folk of Carmel, I completely agree!

The reason we opened Lanikai Bath and Body in fact was to help keep Kailua as local as possible. The owners and their families have lived in Kailua for over 20 years(one was even born here and grew up in Enchanted Lake when you could still buy a house for under $20K), made our business in Kailua, sent our children to school in Kailua and as the reader noted -- supported the local community in ways too numerous to mention. Our store employs people who live in Kailua, and all of our Lanikai Bath and Body products are made in Hawaii with local ingredients. We have invested oola moola and we believe strongly in our product and our community.

I hope the reader who decried my whole foods post will read this -- because this is
the truth. We love this place, and we don't want it to be Carmel, or Westport, or Newport(East or West Coast) or any other place that is crowded with national retailers that we can access easily elsewhere on our beautiful island. For instance, we could just as easily drive to Whole Foods in Kahala ...

No comments: