Local businesses ‘holding their own’

LIHU‘E — An asset to Kaua‘i’s economy, local businesses are “holding their own” in an unfriendly economic climate, Office of Economic Development Director George Costa said.

A drop in visitor spending has taken a hit on many island enterprises, but business owners are still managing to pay the bills, he said.

“During these difficult economic times, residents and visitors alike will look for ways to stretch their hard-earned dollars and their decisions are price driven,” Costa wrote in an Oct. 9 e-mail. “However, we see people making decisions to support their family or friends by buying local to help keep them employed.”

Supporting kama‘aina employment was one of the reasons Koloa Rum Company Chief Executive Officer Greg Schredder decided to start a business when the financial tides were turning.

“We started this business to give back to the community and economy,” he said, regarding Kaua‘i’s first distilled spirits company, which officially launched in August.

With a liquor license number L0001, Schredder said he has truly entered “uncharted waters” and admits he’s never had such a difficult undertaking with business before. “Having triplets” — with a tasting room at Kilohana Plantation, a distillery in Kalaheo and an additional venture selling Hawaiian Kukui jams and jellies — has not exactly been a piece of cake, he said last week.

“We’re struggling, but we’re not going anywhere … we’re just getting started,” he said.

Another entrepreneur who has embraced the economy’s slippery slope is Rachail Running Horse, owner of Colonics — part of Smith Chiropractic & Wellness Center — in Kapa‘a.

“The economy hasn’t stopped people from wanting to try colon hydrotherapy, but they haven’t had the money to keep the momentum going,” she said. “I might be challenged with the economy, but I feel like I can always try harder.”

One way many local entrepreneurs manage to stay on top of the market is by resourceful advertising. In fact, Beth Tokioka, executive assistant to Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and an original founder of the Kaua‘i Made program, said how well a business does has “a lot to do with how aggressively they’re marketing themselves and what their particular niche is.”

At only 20, Victor Rundbaken, owner of ifixit Hawai‘i — a business that repairs iPods, iPhones and other small electronics — said he knows what it takes to make a business successful.

“I don’t watch much TV,” he said last week when asked how he managed to run an enterprise, attend full-time classes at Kaua‘i Community College and still have time to market his business.

Now is actually a good time to start a repair business, as people are opting to fix their belongings rather than buying new, he said.

Instead of purchasing a new iPod which can cost some $200, it is more beneficial to the consumer to replace a battery or part for an unquestionably “cheaper” cost, he said.

“Many services on the mainland are significantly more expensive than the prices I offer and charge exorbitant shipping fees to Hawai‘i,” he said as far as supporting local businesses is concerned.

Tokioka agreed.

“The importance of buying local is that this keeps our dollars circulating on this island to the greatest extent possible,” she said. “Whenever someone buys a locally made product that money goes right back into our economy in the labor and material cost the vendor incurs in making our products. We reduce or eliminate dollars being exported off island for manufacturing and materials.”

The question is whether the worst of economic times are almost behind island businesses?

Costa said that according to economists, “we’ve experienced the ‘bottom’ of our economic downturn and it will be a slow recovery that will take at least two years.”

“We see the economy stabilizing and it will take frugal, sound business decisions over the next two years that will keep businesses viable,” Costa wrote in an e-mail. “It will also take a concerted effort by business, government and residents to promote and ‘buy local’ to help island businesses.”