Business

Increasing Island Food Storage

Thursday, August 1st, 2013

With growing concerns on Molokai about food security, Friendly Market Center (FMC) is taking a big step to enhance their food storage capabilities. The Kaunakakai grocery store plans to build a 7,544-square-foot warehouse that will more than double the business’ current walk in chiller storage capacity for perishable items, according to co-owner Jeff Egusa. The warehouse will offer a buffer in case the barge cannot deliver on its current twice-weekly schedule, and could also mean cheaper food for Molokai shoppers, Egusa said.

The warehouse will include 4,495 square feet of storage space, as well as a loading dock, small office for warehouse workers and a 13-space parking lot.…

60 years of Family Service

Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Friendly Market celebrates 60th anniversary

Jeff Egusa swore he would never come back to Molokai to work in his family’s grocery business. But more than 30 years later, he calls the decision to continue the legacy of Friendly Market Center the best decision of his life.

It all began when his dad, Alex Egusa, was fired from his job working in the grocery business operated by the Y.K. Yuen family, which owned four stores on Molokai in the early 1950s. Jeff said a group of fellow employees quit when his dad was let go after a difference of opinion, and shortly afterward, they decided to open their own store together in 1953.…