WAIPOULI — Customers have been noticing the changes over the past few weeks, and on Saturday morning Safeway made everything official. “We’re not going to close down the store since it’s already open,” said Gary Mizuuchi, Safeway store manager for
WAIPOULI — Customers have been noticing the changes over the past few weeks, and on Saturday morning Safeway made everything official.
“We’re not going to close down the store since it’s already open,” said Gary Mizuuchi, Safeway store manager for Waipouli. “But we would like to mark the start of the new Safeway Lifestyle.”
Sabra Kauka, the Hawaiian Studies instructor at Island School and kumu, presided over the ceremonies that took place between intervals of customers arriving and departing the store at the Kaua‘i Shopping Village complex.
Mizuuchi was joined by Hawai‘i Safeway Manager George Glukfeld and Assistant Managers Lesah Merritt and Annette Palacio.
Kaua‘i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., admitting that he is a shopper at the Safeway store, also joined the group before heading to a prior engagement.
“The customers have been commenting on how happy they are with the new look,” Mizuuchi said. “We will continue to make things happen for them.”
Safeway in Waipouli has been working with several teams from the Hawai‘i and the Mainland in transforming the store to become a “Lifestyle” store.
The transformation took place while the store operated its normal business hours, Mizuuchi said.
Safeway wanted to differentiate itself from the conventional grocery sector by focusing on product presentations that sell solutions to shoppers, rather than just single items, state an online source. The idea behind this concept is that shoppers would leave with an entire salad, not just a head of lettuce.
This concept was demonstrated in the Waipouli store’s produce department where Kauka stopped more than once when a dragon fruit caught her eye, and in the tomato Beginnings, a new name for the end cap under the Lifestyle concept, purple tomatoes were mixed with several varieties of red tomatoes.
The design firm Avizia of Michigan was tapped to help deliver this effect across the network of Safeway stores by rethinking different elements within its stores. This included lighting, fixtures and merchandise presentations.
Mizuuchi said under the current situation, when the new Safeway opens in Puhi, it will be a Lifestyle store too.
“We have good service provided by good people,” Mizuuchi said. “Our people don’t just try, they do. I’m very proud of the crew and the effort they exert to serve our customers.”
During the day-long grand re-opening celebration, customers were treated to special entertainment including a performance by the Kapa‘a Middle School ‘Ukulele Band, and samples of various products.
“It hits you right in the opu,” Carvalho said.
•Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
