Community has always been important to me. That is why I love Kaua‘i. I appreciate all that our community provides my family: the laid-back, friendly lifestyle, the special beauty of the island and the deep sense of connection and mutual
Community has always been important to me. That is why I love Kaua‘i. I appreciate all that our community provides my family: the laid-back, friendly lifestyle, the special beauty of the island and the deep sense of connection and mutual caring shared by the people here.
Another community to which I am proud to belong is Wal-Mart.
As manager of the Lihu‘e store for the past four years, there hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t been grateful that I am part of Wal-Mart.
Nearly 400 “garden islanders” work at our store. More than a dozen local businesses sell us products. And nearly everyone on the island shops at our store at one time or another.
Since the Lihu‘e Wal-Mart opened about 11 years ago, it has become a gathering place. Every morning, you will find retirees drinking coffee and discussing the latest news at the McDonald’s in our store.
People bump into friends in the aisles and stop to chat. We work hard to make our store friendly and hospitable.
As the store manager, I have had the wonderful privilege of directing tens-of-thousands of dollars in Wal-Mart financial support to dozens of local organizations from youth sports teams to community service groups; from Hospice to the Humane Society.
The Red Cross recently recognized Wal-Mart for immediately coming to the aid of victims of the Ka Loko Reservoir disaster.
I am proud of the fact that Wal-Mart is committed to our community.
I am also proud of the wide variety of high quality, low-priced merchandise Wal-Mart is able to provide to Kaua‘i’s families, who can still remember having to take frequent shopping trips to O‘ahu to find the products and prices they wanted.
I sincerely believe that Kaua‘i and Wal-Mart are good for each other. Our customers tell us they like and appreciate our store.
Because of Wal-Mart’s commitment to Kaua‘i and our deep relationship with people here, we would like to expand our store to become a “Supercenter,” a large Wal-Mart store that includes a complete supermarket with a full selection of groceries, produce, dairy and meats.
As part of the project, the store’s exterior would be redesigned to reflect Kaua‘i’s architectural heritage.
But some politicians are pushing for legislation that could stop the project. The proponents call them “Big Box Bills,” and claim they are intended to protect Kaua‘i from too much development.
I think they are really “Big Grocery Bills,” intended to prevent Wal-Mart from competing against the supermarkets here.
One of the proposals being discussed by county officials would ban big box stores only if they carry a substantial amount of groceries. This bill is clearly aimed directly at stopping our plans for a Supercenter.
You might want to ask yourself — who would benefit from keeping Wal-Mart’s discount-priced groceries out of Kaua‘i? Who is being protected?
It’s not our families — that’s for sure.
• Janie Whitehead is the manager of the Lihu‘e Wal-Mart.
