Kaua'i Councilc passes ';No More Big Box Stores'; resolution.

Aloha from Kaua%26#39;i!

This is not intended to start a debate pro and con big box stores -- but simply to let visitors know that while we do have KMart, WalMart, HomeDepot and Costco -- these will be the last of the Big Box Stores on the island.

Our County Council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution to not permit any more big box stores in excess of 75,000 sq.

Malama Pono,

Janet

Kaua'i Councilc passes ';No More Big Box Stores'; resolution.

Our County Council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution to not permit any more big box stores in excess of 75,000 sq.

OH BOY.......they may find they%26#39;ve boxed themselves into a corner and may need to reword this if they want it to be effective. This has happened in many places of the country. Local governments make such stipulations based on square footage. So the stores then decide to build their scaled-down ';mini-box'; stores. This is a common move when these square footage restrictions are put into place.

Kaua'i Councilc passes ';No More Big Box Stores'; resolution.

Koloagirl wrote:

Our County Council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution to not permit any more big box stores in excess of 75,000 sq.

That really is sad, think of all the jobs that will be lost. Do any of the locals that post here know people that work at any of these ';big box'; stores. Do we know why the County Council voted against it? I wonder if with all the building going on on the South and I will assume that within time the West side will start the same construction that the need for Bigger boxed stores will be needed.

Erin

Aloha from Kaua%26#39;i!

As a full-time resident I do indeed know what the situation is currently at our local big box store - Costco.-- my husband works there -- I shop at Costco -- our Costco is ALWAYS desperately short-handed in employees and has been since shortly after they opened. Of all of the mainland folks that they transferred over here to ';live in Paradise'; over half of them have transferred back to the mainland.

Many departments are constantly short handed because they simply can%26#39;t find enough workers to fill their slots.

Our unemployment is at an all time low -- employers are finding it harder and harder to fill postiions that they need to fill -- offering cash bonuses if emloyees will stick it out say six months or a year.

Many of the big construction projects here on the South Shore have had to hire off-island workers to fill their employment slots.

I do indeed shop at Costco, Walmart and occasionally KMart -- but as a resident I am happy to see that there will be no more big box stores on our island. Don%26#39;t we have enough?

The reason the Council gave in the article in the paper was ';to preserve the rural nature of the island'; saying that big box stores were more suited to urban areas that were closeby freeways and large urban centers. I fully agree with their statement.

While I am not going to ';slam'; the ones we have by any means -- I am also happy to see that we won%26#39;t be inundated with more and more airplane hangar size buildings in our towns.

Malama Pono,

Janet

There are plenty of beautiful, scenic areas on the mainland that feel the same about big box stores--believe it or not, there is actually a fight being waged against one being built less than 3 miles from where I reside. Imagine that--and in a suburb of a reasonably sized ';urban area';!---again, you are not alone on that one.

1. Reminds one of the saying about ';closing the barn doors after the horses have already escaped.';

The major players you are going to find in Hawaii are already there, having long-recognized the opportunity in the neighbor island communities. They just got to Kauai last. About all that would be left to potentially snag would be a Target....Lowe%26#39;s isn%26#39;t in an expanding mood, not sure 64,000 consumers are enough for a Sports Authority, any computer or office superstore, etc....

2. Funny, as busy as the stores are on every island, not once have I seen an employee standing on the street with a gun forcing shoppers inside....they come willingly in droves to spend their hard earned money; its called ';voting with your pocketbook';. They like the products for the price.

3. By artifically (through zoning codes) not allowing the freedom for such stores to expand into new territories you are effectively ';taxing'; the consumer by not allowing him to purchase products at the lowest possible prices. In example, if you keep Costco out of an area, the consumers must often pay higher prices for the same goods...an amount, typically in the $100s annually for most Hawaii residents, which could be considered as type of extra cost (or ';tax';) imposed by government mandate.

Alternatively, it could be viewed as a type of ';subsidy'; to existing businesses. By not allowing larger, more efficient stores to compete in the market, they are propping up (';subsidizing';) smaller, less efficient businesses, allowing them to charge higher prices to the local consumer withour fear of competition.

4. Given the extreme costs of housing and so many other things on Kauai these days, most local families can use a break wherever possible. Big box retailers have provided that break through meaningful savings.

My son was just laid off his job here in St. Louis, so I forwarded Koloagirls message to him about Costco being short handed. Who knows, maybe he%26#39;ll apply there and I can go to Kauai more often to visit him! :)

$11-12 bucks/hr at Costco is still a starvation wage here. Even the TSA is paying more like $15-17.

Regarding this thread in general though. How does this info serve a tourist planning a vacation in the near future? It might be interesting on a political blog but really isn%26#39;t terribly useful for travelers. If there%26#39;s a vote, I say we keep Tripadvisor for travel related items instead of this sort of news. People can read the Garden Island on line if they want the news.

I personally don%26#39;t mind these kinds of threads and if a person doesn%26#39;t want to bother with it they should be able to tell by the title and just move on.

What I find amusing though is how the initial post usually starts out with something like ';I dont want to start a debate or anything....';. Well, OF COURSE that is the intent. Why else would a thread be started about things topics like this?

It%26#39;s all good though. Like I say, can make for some interesting reading. But let%26#39;s just be honest about it.

I take it as it read----just informing the interested. I often do check the Kauai newspaper, but not everyday. So tidbits of info like this are interesting to me.