Hawaii grocer Okimoto Corp. celebrated 75 years in business in 2024, built on a foundation of honesty, integrity, humility and unity. Led by the third generation – Kris, Kyle and Kit Okimoto – the company operates two stores on Oahu and one on Molokai.
Kit Okimoto, who in addition to his CFO duties in the family business is serving as chairman of the Hawaii Food Industry Association, took time out of the busy holiday season to correspond with The Shelby Report’s Lorrie Griffith.
Tell me about each of your stores – the two your company opened and the one you acquired on Molokai. Anything that differentiates the three stores from each other? Being on two different islands, do some of the markets they serve differ as well?
We have three stores, all under different names. The Waianae Store is our original store, and our grandparents, David and Betty Okimoto, opened it in 1949. Nanakuli Super opened five miles down the road in 1973. We acquired Friendly Market Center on the island of Molokai in 2017; that store was started by the Egusa family in 1953…