Times to hire 33 new employees

LIHU‘E — Anyone walking into Kukui Grove’s Times Supermarket Tuesday would be surprised to see people standing in a long line extending the entire length of a grocery isle, job applications in hand and hearts set on landing one of the more than 30 positions available islandwide.

Crammed between coolers filled with ice cream and shelves filled with soda, they waited patiently for a short interview with two workers sitting at a table inside the supermarket in Lihu‘e.

“We currently have many vacancies on the island of Kaua‘i that need to be filled,” states a flyer in front of the supermarket. “Your chance to advance is an application away!”

The excitement in the flyer was hardly translated into the faces of the more than 20 job hopefuls that stood in line, aiming at a chance to lower Kaua‘i’s 8.5 percent July unemployment rate.

Times recently bought out Big Save stores and is continuing Times’ tradition of accepting applications and holding interviews the last Tuesday of every month, all in a time slot of one hour. Last week, the interviews were conducted in three locations islandwide: Hanalei, Lihu‘e and ‘Ele‘ele.

On Tuesday, the supermarket chain had 33 openings islandwide for several different positions, including kitchen managers, grocery managers, clerks, cashiers, customer service representatives, cooks, meat clerks, servers and others.

The Hanalei store had one full-time and three part-time positions available; Lihu‘e had one full-time and two part-time positions; Kapa‘a had three full-time and three part-time positions; Waimea had two full-time and four part-time positions; Koloa had two full-time and eight part-time positions; and ‘Ele‘ele had one full-time and one part-time position.

• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.