Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ouch even I cringed when I saw the price of butter. I believe the price tag for one brand was almost $5. The same brand is $1 here. Auwe! I know it costs to ship things, like it did 30+ years ago. But my opinion is someone is taking advantage of the situation. Plus you pay taxes on it too.
That video is two years old but yes, it does reflect the true horror of food prices in Hawaii.
My daughter lives in the Hudson Valley area of NY. Once in a while I pull up an online flyer from her local ShopRite store, a store that would be equivalent to our Foodland in size.
LOL, really. The sale prices are anywhere from 50 to 75 per cent lower than our regular prices. And then you catch the "save 20 cents" note on that and you scream out loud when you realize what the regular price is. No taxes on most foods, either.
Take a look:
Yes, you can do the Costco and Walmart thing here and save but the prices very rarely come even close to those flyer prices from an area that is considered one of the more expensive areas to live in the United States.
I do understand the shipping issues, of course. But I do believe that this is an ongoing "Tradition of Rip-Off." People accept it here, to a point. The old Hawaii captive audience stuff. You don't want to pay the prices? Don't buy, then. But if you want/need it, you're gonna pay.
The same goes for job salary offers, rent, home ownership.
When the bang for the buck (or lack thereof) finally gets to you, you leave. It's all a trade-off, wherever you go, and it all boils down to how much anything is worth, personally, to you.
The cost of shipping food isn't why prices are high. Electricity, real estate, and payroll are far higher drivers and impacts to food costs.
Of course (excepting, perhaps, the payroll point). But you always hear, especially from people who are planning on moving here and profess to understand why food costs so much here, the "because everything has to be shipped here" rationalization, so I tossed that in.
The shipping stuff is true, to a point but, dammit, food is shipped to and from everywhere these days.
Just read an article on the salt spread on the roads during snowstorms. It's shipped from South America to the East Coast by boat. There are plenty of salt stores in the US that are available and could be sent to the East Coast but the cost of rail shipping is prohibitive. So thousands of tons of salt goes by boat.
So...how expensive, really, is it to ship stuff by boat? Fresh produce and other groceries go from California, Mexico, and Canada to all points in the CONUS. Pretty much all by rail, I believe. And the prices, even in Manhattan, are cheaper than here.
Talking about electricity, real estate, payroll? Well, this is a flyer from an upper Manhattan food store. Not a very extensive list, I admit, but check out the fresh fruit. I rest my case---"Tradition of Rip-off" prevails in Hawaii, IMHO.
And here is the flyer from Whole Foods in Kailua---hard to compare, given the different items, but take a look at the price of "Local Kale." And that "Wallaby Yogurt" is made in California.
They couldn't even keep Foodland open in Hawaii Kai because of the lease going so high.
I would bet that growing the Sullivan family's other holdings was looking more attractive than investing in an aging grocery store.
Jenai is much more savvy than that, I do believe. With many different kinds of stores throughout the Islands and on the Mainland doing well, that Hawaii Kai store must have been a loser.
Last edited by PaliPatty; 01-04-2014 at 07:31 PM..
What makes you think the other stores are doing well? Grocery is typically very low margin.
And Hawaii Kai no doubt was not going to be profitable under the terms of the proposed new lease. So it went in the crapper.
Business decision, pure and simple. Gain vs loss. If it was going be profitable the lease would have been renewed by the Foodland folks. There was much public hand-wringing displayed by the Foodland people at the time regarding their long history in Hawaii Kai, etc, but the bottom line was most certainly the bottom line.
It's no good, cut it off. Smart business people.
And I have no idea how the other grocery stores are doing but I would bet that, if they start failing, they too will be closed and losses cut. It's just business, assertions of aloha and displays of public mourning aside.
Take a look at the Sullivan Family of Companies. Think axing one old grocery store is of much concern to them? I doubt it.
I looked at the link - what makes you think they are very profitable?
Sigh. What would make me think they were not, after reading something like the article below?
The Sullivans are way too business savvy to be holding on to enterprises that were not profitable. Simple case of deductive reasoning, no hard "proof" necessary. No idea if they are "very" profitable but I think it's a safe bet that they are not losers.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Plus you pay taxes on it too.
