Miss Aloha greets customers who walk into the Uptown Kitchen & Food Mart in Wailuku, Hawaii, giving each one a warm welcome. “We have a cashier we nicknamed Miss Aloha because of the way she made everyone feel like part of the Uptown family,” said owner Alvin Makimoto.
When on a shift, Miss Aloha infused the store with such a positive, inclusive vibe, Makimoto decided to take her spirit of aloha to another level. “We now have a painting of her in the front window, and other staff also greet people as they walk in with her ‘Love you families’ greeting. We want [customers] to walk away thinking that we’re glad they came here and to make their day a little bit brighter.”
Wholesale Change
That aloha spirit underlies everything Makimoto has tried to do with Uptown Kitchen & Food Mart, a business his father started in 1953 as a gas station with a five-bay repair shop, which Makimoto took over in 1989. Until the early 2000s, he ran the business much like his father had, with the addition of a small section for drinks and snacks.
“By 2002, the snack shop was outdoing the repair side, and when Chevron—which owned the property—allowed me to purchase the land in 2004, we decided a major change was needed,” he said. Makimoto converted the entire repair shop into a convenience store with a full kitchen and walk-up window for takeout orders.
“This was very unusual for Hawaii, which tended to have convenience stores with grab-and-go sections, but rarely served fresh-made food for breakfast and lunch,” he said. With the assistance of a friend’s chef son, Makimoto designed a menu of takeout bento boxes and local specialties, such as Spam rice balls.
We want [customers] to walk away thinking that we’re glad they came here and to make their day a little bit brighter.
With gasoline sales already declining pre-pandemic because of larger chains like Costco and Safeway, focusing on food made Uptown Kitchen & Food Mart stand out. “On the island of Maui, there are only a handful of independent gas stations left, so we needed to be sure we had convenient items and foodservice our customers wanted in order to survive.”
One point of differentiation is with Uptown’s baked goods. When a local vendor retired, “the mom of one of our managers who was a good baker took over, and she started churning out simple things like Rice Krispies treats made with [Kellogg’s] Cocoa Krispies and [General Mills’] Chex Mix made with a local flare,” he said. Makimoto developed branded packaging for the baked goods, which soared from $1,000 in sales a month to $8,000 in sales a month.
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Ideas 2 Go showcases how retailers today are operating the convenience store of tomorrow. To see videos of the c-stores we profiled in 2019 and earlier, go to www.convenience.org/ideas2go.
Surviving COVID-19
When the pandemic hit, Makimoto thought his store would be a casualty. “I figured by the end of 2020, I would be turning my keys in as everybody’s business was struggling in the early days of COVID-19,” he said.
Uptown Kitchen & Food Mart in Wailuku, Hawaii, started in 1953 as a gas station and repair shop. In the early 2000s, the garage became a convenience store with a full kitchen and walk-up window. The c-store’s foodservice menu features bento boxes and Spam rice balls, a local specialty, plus baked goods. A mural on the front window is a nod to a cashier nicknamed “Miss Aloha,” who welcomes customers with a “Love you families” greeting.
Once the shock of the new normal wore off, he went into survival mode, reducing staff and inventory to stay afloat. “We went down from three cash registers to two,” he said. “We scrambled to get online ordering up and running, which took us two months. For a while it was a lifeline because no one was coming into the store.”
Now, online orders have died down as foot traffic has increased. “We’re not back to where we were pre-pandemic, but we’re doing OK,” he said. As sales inched up, he brought back employees, although not to the previous level.
Like many convenience stores, Makimoto uses social media to stay connected with customers. “Social media is so important nowadays,” he said. Uptown also runs radio commercials on a local station. “We’ve had a trade agreement for years with the station where they give us air time in exchange for fuel each month,” he said. Five years ago, Uptown started sending its daily menu for the DJ to read on-air, which helped boost sales of its fresh food.
But most of its customers come from walk-in traffic and word of mouth. “We’re centrally located, so people pass by our store on a daily basis,” Makimoto said. “Word of mouth is gold here, and that’s how we’ve grown the most.”
While good food and word of mouth go a long way toward a store’s success, Makimoto pointed to another reason—his employees. “I’m so grateful for my employees, and I try to show them how much I appreciate them through little treats and verbal praise,” he said. “Find your Miss Aloha, and set the bar high with that person.”
Bright Ideas
Where does Alvin Makimoto, owner of Uptown Kitchen & Food Mart in Wailuku, Hawaii, go for inspiration? You’re reading it. “The NACS Magazine has helped me a lot with ideas for merchandising and what trends are happening now,” he said. “I used to rely solely on my vendors for what to carry in our store, but I quickly realized our vendors don’t always know what will sell well in my store.”
He scours each issue for new products and how to sell those products successfully. “For example, I learned how to bring in new items and discount old items to make room for the new ones,” he said. “It’s become part of our product rotation now and helps us keep the store fresh for our customers.”
Makimoto also recommends attending the NACS Show. “Our trip to the NACS Show gave us a lot of great ideas,” he said.