Ala Wai Pantry & Deli

"The people that own this place are extremely rude. When asking them to break a quarter for change, they pretended to not understand me, even though I've spoken to them in the past. Also their prices are high on all their products. Go to the ABC store on Lewers. They've got all the same stuff at better prices and service"

"Long read but true story. This store isn’t far from where I live, so when I started going here for small house hold needs and snacks I figured what better way to support the community than shop at a privately owned small business. what could go wrong? As the months have gone by I would occasionally stop by this store to pick up small things like gum, a cold beverage, and tobacco products. Usually the lady running the register wouldn't even make eye contact with me or acknowledge my existence, but I don’t take personal offense to it, I’d get my stuff wish her kindly and go on about my day. One night I go in as usual for Tobacco, water and snacks. There are no baskets or carts, so this particular time I set some items on the counter as I continued to shop, assuming to be the best solution as there weren’t a lot of people present at the time. She could watch the items and I don’t have to carry a bunch of things around the store. As I finished selecting my items, she makes eye contact with me, rolls her eyes and says “hurry up” I had only been in the store no more than 5 minutes and there were no other customers waiting, so I thought she was being humorous. I laughed and continued to shop around. As I finished up with a total time of around 7 minutes on location I noticed she had a legitimate aggression towards me. “what’s the problem?” I asked. “You don’t put down and walk away. Get and go” she replied in broken English. “Ma’am I shop here a lot and support your business I don’t appreciate being rushed out like that.” I am a biracial (Black and White) younger guy, not that it matters. But I carry myself with certain values. I’m not saying I’m smarter than most, but I possess a keen awareness of common sense and I can tell fairly easy when I am being criticized and assessed. You can feel when you are being judged with hatred for no reason other than existing. A peculiar sense of distaste and disapproval gleams from one’s eyes, hateful yet satisfied by whatever thoughts entertain the resolution for their unjustified indignation. Her attitude toward me was uncanny and undeserving. I felt inclined to defend myself. “Is this how you treat ALL of your customers?” I asked. She refused to answer the question, continuing to manually calculate my selected items into an old loudly beeping register. I refused to purchase the items and left. It’s been a few weeks since that incident and I’m not one to hold a grudge. Today I went back to make amends. “Good afternoon ma’am” I said upon entry She made no eye contact, no response back. I requested my usual tobacco, “Are you gonna be mean to me today?” I said playfully. She completely freaked out and yelled something in another language. She then told me to leave. A middle aged man I’m assuming her husband came out and said “she’s the boss and the boss wants you to leave.” He explained. “The boss has a serious attitude problem, you guys need to learn how to treat your customers” I suggested, as I exited the store for the last time. It’s sad that we live in a time where you can’t be yourself without causing offense, even if you go out of your way to make others feel comfortable and respect their beliefs, cultures, races, or in this case a business, you still stand to fall victim to the very issues to which you carefully attempt to pay respect. I am not accusing these people of racism, but I am saying that they should not be in business. Their prices aren’t much lower/higher from the nicer, cleaner, more customer savvy corporate companies just around the corner. With the other stores near by, you can save receipts and collect points for discounts and other great deals. And best of all they treat their customers regardless of who they are, with respect and dignity. I agree that maybe I went too far by joking around with the cashier lady about our past interactions (I have a dark sense of humor) but if that was all it took for them to kick me out of the store for good, then there’s apparently more to their way of thinking and in my opinion, scratches the surface of discrimination."

"In the Waikiki area, traditional local grocery shops have almost disappeared due to the ABC store, but 123 Shop on Lewers St. is still open after the coronavirus lockdown. It's surrounded by residential condominiums rather than hotels, and I guess it's a good thing that they weren't targeting tourists in the first place."