Welcome to Maui, Seafood City!
Alfredo G. Evangelista | Assistant Editor | Photos by Alfredo Evangelista
Finally!
With much fanfare, a great social media campaign, and music by DaJam 98.3, Seafood City Maui opened on August 22. The first two hundred customers were promised great deals.
Bernice Maniago Skinner and her sister Nani Maniago were the first in line. Skinner says she was at the store at 5:20 a.m. “I’m looking forward to the crispy pata and the halo halo,” she says. The Maniago sisters have been to the Waipahu and Las Vegas locations.
Rosalinda Clemente and her sister-in-law Editha Acidera, along with other relatives, arrived at 6:30 a.m. “I’m excited to get rice for one dollar,” Clemente says. “And to see the inside.”
Jessa Sagario arrived at 7:20 a.m. and she held coupon #50. “I wanted a bag of rice,” she explains. She liked Grill City and the Red Ribbon in other locations but she was not disappointed Red Ribbon would not be on Maui. “I’m willing to try,” she explains.
The line to enter started on the right side of Seafood City’s doors and continued on the left side of the doors, wrapping around the corner on Ohekani Street. Located at the former Lowe’s site at Maui Marketplace, 270 Dairy Road in Kahului, Seafood City Maui occupies 32,113 square feet–larger than the Waipahu location.
“This is bigger, brighter,” says Consul Grace Ann Bulos, who flew in from Honolulu to attend the opening ceremonies. “It’s a breath of fresh air to the Maui community, especially after the fires.”
The story of Seafood City began in March 1989 when the first Seafood City opened in National City in San Diego. That location is near the naval base in San Diego and many Filipinos began their American dream through the U.S. Navy. Seafood City recognized, however, the longing of Filipinos for their comfort food. The success of Seafood City enables Filipino immigrants to cook and serve “their families with dishes they grew up with and accustoming their children with the flavors of home, thus preserving their cultural heritage,” according to Seafood City’s website.
Seafood City also claims to celebrate by sharing meals with non-Filipinos, “increasing the demand and fondness for our food, making it more familiar to the western palate.”
Elewin Rebaya, the Executive Vice President of Seafood City, was on Maui coordinating the Grand Opening and confirmed Seafood City’s clientele to be 40% non-Filipino.
The Maui location is Seafood City’s 38th store in North America (including Hawai‘i). The Maui store is open from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. “It took about one year to do the electrical,” says Michael Matias of O&E Matias Electrical Svc, LLC. “There was a lot of cooperation from the State and the County.”
County officials including Council Chair Alice Lee, Council Vice Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura, Council Pro Tempore Tasha Kama and the Mayor’s Chief of Staff Leo Caires flanked Esteban Go, Chairman of Seafood City, at the opening ceremonies and the traditional ribbon cutting ceremonies. (A couple of days earlier, Fr. Efren Tomas of Christ the King Church blessed the store. A traditional Hawaiian blessing led by Kahu Wilmont Kahaiali‘i followed.)
On the day of the Grand Opening, the place was jam packed. Seafood City had four hundred shopping carts and all were being used, according to the Development Officer. As one enters, Bakers Avenue (Seafood City’s own bakery brand in lieu of Red Ribbon or Valerio’s) is on the right side while Grill City is on the left side. If you hear a bell ringing on the right side, that means pan de sal has just come out of the oven. During the Grand Opening, Sara Goldones was ringing the bell. Sort of beats yelling pandesal!
There is an immense variety of pandesal including marunggay pan de sal, ube halaya pandesal, pork asado pan de sal and pork longanisa pan de sal. Plus ube loaf, mongo loaf, cream cheese bun, choco nutella bun, red mongo bun, corned beef bun, ham and cheese bun, Spanish bread, pan de coco, pan de leche, expresso bites, ube bites, ube crinkles, lengua de gato, ube ensaymada and creamy cheese ensaymada. Sorry but for now, there is no mamon. Bakers Avenue also prepares a variety of cakes—luscious mango cream cake, ube macapuno cake and my favorite—Ube Pistachio Sansrival. Jeanice Garcia Paa, who recently celebrated her birthday, purchased the Ube Pistachio Sansrival and said “It was delicious!” (See Liza Pierce’s Kwento-Kwentuhan column on page 13 for her viewpoints on dessert.)
As you enter Seafood City, Grill City entices you to try the Pinoy-style BBQ. (I swear I could smell the BBQ from the parking lot.) Along with pork and chicken BBQ, there’s BBQ squid, tilapia, and pampano. Chief of Staff Caires, whose roots are from Siquijor, was able to get a taste of the onolicious bbq. “I don’t want to leave. It’s so ono.”
In addition, Grill City offers a whole bunch of side dishes such as pansit, pork belly, crispy pata, chicharon, adobo, dinuguan, kare kare, laing and more! Yes, there’s deep-fried smelt, chicken skin, head-on shrimp, and my favorite, crablets. (During the Grand Opening, the line was super super long. Even that night, the line went out the door. On Friday, the day after, it was still an hour wait after pau hana time.)
At the end of the line of Grill City, there are desserts such as gulaman and halo halo. Tip for the wise: if you only want halo halo, you can go directly to the cashier and purchase a halo halo. The sign says a ten-minute wait.
In the store, there is a variety of produce from a number of sources, including Maui Gold pineapple. I also saw large paria fruit, mango, dragon fruit, onions and other fruits and vegetables you normally expect at large supermarkets.
And of course, there is a wide variety of dry goods. Daisy Huang, a Sales Representative from JFC International Inc. in Los Angeles was on hand to observe the Grand Opening. Huang proudly states JFC International brought in thirty percent of the dry goods, with the shrimp chips as the number one seller. Imagine that—a Filipino superstore selling products from Japan (and Korea, I was later informed) and Pinoys flocking to purchase them!
Of course, there’s bagoong!—a whole bunch of varieties. During the Grand Opening, I met with my old friend Amor Nino of Amor Nino Foods, one of the bagoong suppliers who reminded me his business in the Philippines started in the early 1990’s because of the Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawai‘i’s Trade Mission to the Philippines. Two of his children are now helping him to run the business.
And yes, there’s whitening soap—lots of them. Not only the standard Likas soap but many, many other bands such as RDL, Beauche, Belo, Green Cross, Mena, C.Y. Gabriel, Flawlessly U, YSA, Top-Gel, Top-One, C.Y. Gabriel, Silka and Palmolive. Wow! I never knew there were so many brands. And then again, I do not go into the sun too much and when I do, I am always using my USC umbrella. BTW, the whitening soap is right next to the first cashier, so you can get some on the way out.
The meat section is quite extensive. They have some nice cuts of beef and pork in the showcase. And if you cannot find a Chinese restaurant on Maui (yup, you really cannot), there are chicken feet for sale and you can go on-line to find a recipe to make your own chicken feet Chinese style or, if you prefer, adobo style. There are also meats such as hot dogs (including the Pamana and Magnolia brands), longgadog (Filipino pork sausage), and tocino (pork and chicken). (And like other supermarkets, the corned beef is under lock and key in a corner away from the fresh meat section.)
Next to the fresh meat section, there is a selection of fresh poke and I saw a slab of ahi. Which brings us to the seafood section—after all, it is not called Seafood City for nothing. On ice, there was a variety of fish including fresh tilapia, fresh red tilapia, yellow snapper, manini, fourfinger thread, tai snapper, Pangasinan bangus, etc. There were tanks containing lobsters, crabs, and my favorite oysters for $1.49 each. (I am not sure if this was a special price for the Grand Opening but that is a great price and the oysters are large–perfect for your backyard BBQ during football season.)
And yes, they can clean your fish and fry it for you while you continue your shopping. Just listen for your name over the speaker system. They won’t fry your smelt because I think the frying baskets are too large and the smelts will fall out of the basket into the hot oil. If you cannot wait to eat your fried fish until you get home, you can go to the eating section near Grill City and enjoy your fried fish.
“I took off from work today,” says Anna Sable. “It was history in the making for Maui. I had the pampano and it was perfectly grilled.” Councilmember Kama was pleased to assist in welcoming Seafood City to Maui: “I’m excited they are here because we get their fresh seafood at our fingertips.”
But wait, there’s more!
In the corner near the fresh seafood, there is a section of frozen prepared foods such as sisig, pinapaitan, dinuguan, etc. I guess you just pop it into the microwave and it is ready to eat. And my wife Bessy says there’s a whole section of lumpia. I didn’t see the lumpia because I was busy checking out the ice cream—macapuno, ube, pandan—all your favorites and assorted brands including the San Miguel brand. And if you are hoping for a Maui specialty, they have Roselani’s.
In terms of beverages, Seafood City has its own brand of water. Plus a number of juices—pineapple, mango, calamansi, coconut water, POG, iced tea and more.
“They offer a great selection,” says Jonathan Lubera, owner of CJ Mart, a small sari sari-styled Filipino store located at 115 S. Wākea Avenue in Kahului. “Competition is always good for consumers. I don’t think it will hurt our business.” While a few social media posts appear to worry about the small Filipino-owned businesses, a closer analysis reveals all the small Filipino businesses have found their niche. For example, Paradise Supermart located at 207 E. Wākea Avenue in Kahului (with its new sign) has a strong catering business to go along with its hot food line and grocery store. Asian Mart & Fast Food located at 745 Lower Main Street in Wailuku has in addition to its hot food line and grocery store, kilawen kalding on Fridays and Saturdays. CAA Marketplace located at 960 Lower Main Street in Wailuku has a grocery store, a hot food line, and a bakery featuring their lady fingers. Honolulu-based Golden Coin located at 759 Lower Main Street in Wailuku has their hot food line and kankanen such as bibingka and bibingka casava.
As with all superstores, variety is the key at Seafood City. Pricing is comparable and in some cases, extremely competitive. One must continue to be a smart shopper—wherever you shop (and whatever you shop for, including office supplies via Amazon like me).
But the underlying importance is a Filipino superstore is now on Maui to compete with Safeway, Times and Foodland and for some items, Wal-Mart and Target. That is really an accomplishment and something to be proud of. And it is a store for everyone—Filipinos, locals and tourists.
It is a testament to the growing entrepreneurship of the Filipino community. “Philippine Airlines is very supportive of Seafood City because of the need to support the entrepreneurship of the Filipino community,” says Ma. Soledad “Sol” Solleza, Area Manager of Philippine Airlines in Hawai‘i, who also attended the grand opening.
While there are many small sari sari-styled Filipino stores on Maui and throughout the State, they cannot really compete with the larger grocery stores. (A small business owner reported the Foodland in Kehalani was almost empty during the Grand Opening of Seafood City.)
The energy, excitement, and enthusiasm during the Grand Opening of Seafood City speaks volumes about the Power of the Pinoy as consumers. “This is a great thing for the Filipino community,” observes Councilmember Sugimura. “It is great for strengthening the foundation of Maui County and our workforce.”
During the Grand Opening, a shopper was overheard saying in amazement, “It feels like the Philippines.”
Indeed, one of Seafood City’s promotional pieces prior to the Grand Opening proclaimed “Soon a visit home will just be a few minutes away.”
To Seafood City, the people of Maui thank you and welcome you to our home, Maui nō ka ‘oi!
Assistant Editor Alfredo G. Evangelista, a proud alum of Maui High School (Go Sabers) and the University of Southern California (Fight On!) took a selfie with Seafood City Executive Vice President Elewin Rebaya a few days before the Grand Opening. An attorney in private practice, Evangelista is the proud owner of three Seafood City shopping bags. He believes the Grand Opening of Seafood City was more exciting than the grand openings of Whole Foods, Safeway Maui Lani, Foodland Kehalani, and Jollibee.