“Stores have played an important role in Hawaii’s plantation communities. Prior to 1945, they provided plantation residents with their basic needs, served as social gathering places, catered to various ethnic preferences …”
“… in food, clothing, and medicine, and provided special services such as extended credit and free delivery, which eased the inconveniences of scant, once-a-month paydays and car-less plantation living.”
“[A]s one travels east along Hana Highway from the city of Kahului, two sugar mills can be seen among the cane fields which characterize central Maui. The first to come to view is Puunene Mill. Located two miles from Kahului, it is part of the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company (HC&S). “
“Surrounding the mill area are the battered remains of a plantation camp that once housed many of the company’s employees. Next to be seen along the highway, if one looks hard enough among the cane fields, are traces of what was once the town of Spreckelsville, the site of three of HC&S’s twenty-six camps. In 1935, 7,600 employees and their families lived in the twenty-six camps that dotted the area.”
“Among the plantation camps stood four public schools, three Japanese-language schools, ten churches, one large hospital, twelve day nurseries, three theaters, and a gymnasium. One of the world’s largest plantations at the time, Puunene Plantation consisted of 33,000 acres, 16,000 of which were cane land in 1935.”
“Two miles further along Hana Highway, on a hill, appears Paia Mill. … [P]rior to 1948 when the two companies merged, Paia Plantation was part of the Maui Agricultural Company (MA Company).”
“Less sprawling than neighboring Puunene Plantation, Paia Plantation consisted of six main camps housing approximately 6,000 people. Besides the main Paia Camp which consisted of smaller ‘subcamps’ near the mill, the other camps were at Kaheka, Hamakua Poke, Keahua, Pulehu, and Kailua.”
“Lower Paia, situated on non-plantation-owned lands, with stores, restaurants, bars, and barbershops, still exists today on Hana Highway one-half mile below Paia Mill. It had a population of a little over 1,000 in the 1930s and housed many of the stores and businesses upon which Paia Plantation residents depended.”
“The MA Company plantation store system, serving Paia Plantation, included Paia Store, one of the island’s largest stores, and six branch stores located in outlying camps. While these branch stores were small and provided a smaller volume and variety of goods, Paia Store sold a large variety of goods ranging from Japanese foods to women’s lingerie.”
“Paia Store was so large that it was divided into departments: grocery, men’s furnishings, drugs, dry goods, Japanese foods and dry goods, etc.”
“Paia Store was frequented by those living in the surrounding camps. The branch stores, located in the more remote areas, were ‘convenience’ stores serving only residents of those areas.” “Prices at the plantation stores were generally lower than that of the independent stores.”
“Purchase by credit was generally the rule in the plantation stores prior to 1945. Customers were able to charge their purchases by their plantation identification numbers called bangō. Payment was not due until the monthly payday – the first of each month.”
“[W]hen customers had large families, they were not required to pay off their entire bill at one time. They would be able to maintain a credit balance and make smaller payments each payday. If a customer’s balance got too high, or payments to the store were lagging, the store would obtain the customer’s pay envelope from the plantation office.”
“The customer therefore had to get his pay from the store. After subtracting part of the balance owed the store, the customer would receive his pay. This system of ‘payroll deduction’ enabled the plantation store to avoid large, unpaid accounts. It was an advantage the plantation stores had over the independent stores.”
“The busiest time of the month for the stores was ‘new month’ time. Generally starting between the twentieth and twenty-sixth
of each month (exact dates varied with each store), a customer was allowed to charge goods from that date and was not required to pay for his purchase until the payday after next.
“Family-run Camp Stores … were operated by couples, mostly Japanese, and carried ‘last minute’ and ‘on the spot’ items – canned goods needed that day, soda, ice cream, and candy. … Since these stores were situated on plantation land, permission was needed from the plantation to open a store.”
“The children usually helped out in the store. The husband often would do the pickups and deliveries, leaving his wife and children to watch the store.” “Transactions were usually made in cash. Credit was occasionally given, but to only those the storekeeper knew well.”
Lower Paia Stores were “[l]ocated onlv one-half mile down the road from the Paia Mill and Paia Store, these stores, not located on plantation lands, provided Paia Plantation residents with alternatives to the plantation stores.”
“Many of the stores in Lower Paia were specialized. One store in Lower Paia, Paia Mercantile, rivaled the plantation store in size and variety of goods, but most of the others sold groceries, clothing, drugs, or fish.”
“Most of these stores depended heavily upon plantation residents for their business and some provided services similar to that of the plantation store, including order taking and delivery, credit, and new month. Because they were not as large as the plantation store, the extent of these services was limited.”
“The roads of Paia and Puunene camps were often busy with men in trucks who sold fresh fish, meat, vegetables, and canned goods.”
“Often equipped with a horn or a bell, these independent peddlers would follow a set schedule and route, so that plantation residents would know when to expect them. Because the plantation stores and the Kahului Japanese stores did not sell many fresh items, these peddlers served a valuable function.”
“Stores in Paia and Puunene underwent major changes because of war. Stores profited when thousands of military personnel were stationed around the area.”
However, “Some stores were adversely affected by the war. Two of the five stores comprising the Kahului ‘big 5’ – Kobayashi Shokai and Japanese Mercantile Company – closed down due to the enactment of the Alien Properties Custody Act. This law prohibited the continued operation of businesses under alien ownership.”
“Perhaps the major development which most affected the stores was the closing down of the plantation camps and the migration of the residents to Dream City.”
“This development, beginning in the early 1950s, led to a) the demolition of camp stores; b) the decrease in population of Lower Paia, causing many merchants to sell their businesses to young haole merchants; c) the decline and eventual closing of the plantation-run stores; and d) the rise of Kahului as a major population center with modern supermarkets and shopping centers.”
“The HC&S plantation stores were structured in a slightly different way. As the main retail outlets for the areas’ residents, the branch stores at Camp 5 (Puunene) and Camp 1 (Spreckelsville} were fairly large and carried a variety of goods.”
“The main HC&S store in Kahului was almost exclusively a wholesaler, supplying independent, non-plantation stores as well as the HC&S plantation store system .”
“In 1948, HC&S and MA Company merged, placing the plantation store system under the jurisdiction of a single company: A&B Commercial Company.” (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)
In 1980, the UH Manoa Ethnic Studies program conducted a number of oral histories from people who grew up and worked in the Paia-Pu‘unene area of Maui. Those histories and the information concluded from them provide insight into the plantation store system. All here is from that project report.
