Month: November 2020

An idea is born, and dreams take flight!

The hustle and bustle of a crowded city filled with endless days of commuting and little family time, sparked a family vacation to the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. Enthralled by Hawaii’s beauty left us asking the question, “can you imagine living like this every day?”. We enjoyed the sun, the people, the beauty and the food and our week in paradise vanished in the blink of an eye.

We headed back to our “nine to five”, hour long commutes, rushed dinners and homework; and then it hit us! We don’t have to live like this, this isn’t even really living! We are a very hard-working family and enjoy doing things together and celebrating a “job well done” through committed teamwork. We knew with the right business we could have a better work life balance and get to enjoy more quality time with each other.

We searched and searched for a business to purchase and then Pauwela Store came into the picture. We had never owned a grocery store before, heck, I’ve never even worked in one! But we shop at them often, we could figure it out. This opportunity changed everything! We felt the fire to make this dream a reality. We all worked in uniquely different ways to accomplish this task. We moved our home from the mainland, to the beautiful island of Maui! Leaving decade long careers, we loaded everything we owned into a Matson shipping container and we never looked back.

Pauwela Store is our families dream come true. We are so grateful and excited to be a part of the beautiful community of Haiku. We value every one of our customer’s and vow to serve the community with respect, honesty, and aloha.

Thank you for choosing to shop at our store. Thank you for the opportunity to serve this wonderful community. We look forward to meeting you all in person. From our ohana to yours, mahalo nui loa for this new adventure.

Through the fog of tourism, gives light to thy neighbor….

One word…. actually, one acronym, COVID19. One year, 2020; and I have already painted a pretty clear picture in your mind. This year has not been easy! Our hearts go out to any family or person impacted by this terrible virus. I have always been the “glass is half full” kind of person, so here are our silver linings.

Although this year has been terrible in so many ways. It has also given us one of our most valued treasures! Our neighbors and the Haiku community! Being a grocery store we were deemed an, “essential business”. We were so fortunate to be able to remain open, our hearts broke for the many small businesses that were forced to close or even go out of business.

Our family worked many hours during this difficult time to try and get supplies out to each of you. During our time in the store, we heard countless people make comments like, “we didn’t even know you were here!”, “I haven’t been in this store since it was the old video store”, “I had no idea you carried all of this great stuff!”. COVID forced people to look at their closest resources and perhaps think twice about going into larger stores. We were able to meet so many more members of our Haiku community, and humbled to still maintain those relationships even after the world is trying to return to “normal”.

The people of Maui got to see the most treasured spots through a new lens. Frequented tourist destinations were ghost towns. You could hear waterfalls as if for the first time when they weren’t being drowned out by the sound of people’s voices. Community and aloha gave deeper meanings to our neighbors and the residents of the island of Maui. People waved at the fewer cars traveling our roads and there was a more genuine sense of kindness and appreciation.

This is how I choose to remember this year. Thank you to our Haiku community for your trust and loyalty during this difficult time. And to our tourists who are retuning, thank you as well for contributing to this island and the people. We look forward to seeing each of you in the days to come. And as for COVID….see ya later, don’t let the door hit ya on the way out! Bye Felicia!