Several local businesses, including the Big City Diner in Kaimuki, are preparing to close their doors for good. Island News looks into what’s behind the sudden closures.
HONOLULU (Island News) — Tuesday is National Hamburger Day! But Oahu will soon lose another place to eat burgers as a well-known eatery will soon shut down.
Just one of two longtime restaurants closing their doors. Big City Diner has been a fixture in Kaimuki for more than 25 years.
“In August of 1998, we first opened this location here,” said owner Lane Muraoka.
But since the pandemic, the Kaimuki location couldn’t fill its space with customers and so will close its doors this Friday.
“The last four years have been very challenging. The cost of doing business is through the roof. The increase in minimum wage, insurance costs, food costs, along with gas and electric…it is very challenging,” added Muraoka.
Down the road in Kapahulu, Haili’s Hawaiian Food is also preparing to close its doors after more than 70 years.
“It has been a wild ride. You never prepare, I was never prepared for this part,” said owner Lorraine Haili Alo.
The restaurant was started in 1950 by Lorraine’s parents. At age of 72, she is the last of her sisters still at the restaurant – which they all grew up working in.
But Lorriane’s children, nieces and nephews have moved on to other careers.
“We have firefighters, teachers, nurses. We have a pilot,” stated Haili Alo.
But there is no one to take over the family business, at least – not right now.
“If, down the road, they say ok maybe I want to try this, they have the knowledge to carry on. They know how to cook and what it takes to run a small family restaurant,” added Haili Alo.
She adds that has increasingly become more difficult and expensive over the past few years. So the doors will close for good on June 30.
What will she miss after a lifetime of serving up Hawaiian food? Talking with customers.
“That was the atmosphere we wanted to create when we moved in here. We wanted it to feel like you are at Tutu’s house or your aunties. You take your time and enjoy your food,” said Haili Alo.
Customers are saddened to hear about long time restaurants closing.
“For me, we lose a little bit of our childhood, and for me that is the part I think that is sad,” said Kaimuki resident Aldine Brown.
While new restaurants may eventually go in after long time businesses leave, what can take longer to build is a personal connection, which may be nurtured over the years between customers and employees.
“We are in the people business. One of our regulars came right from the hospital to show us her first born. That sums it up. It is like family. It really is, in the sense of it all,” added Muraoka.
