A Tamura’s Tradition
The Tamura ohana has been in the grocery business on Oahu since the 1920s. Here, Herbert Tamura and son Glenn, who steered the company into wine and fine foods, prepare to celebrate the arrival of 2011 in taste and style
By Chad Pata
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started turning over the store to me in ‘95, I said I’m going to do it. So we leased a property in Kakaako, got three employees in the store and we just kept getting busier and busier.”
From there it took about 18 months to locate and equip their flagship store on Waialae. Once filled with product, however, you need to equip your staff with the knowledge to sell it. So every month they have experts come in and sample the staff - one month it’s sake, the next, single barrel scotches. This keeps the staff sharp and smiling, and leaves Tamura with no shortage of applications.
“Everybody is like ‘can I come work for you?’ because we are drinking for free,” says Tamura, who claims to be a connoisseur of everything in his stores. “But it’s like candy, right? Eating too much candy is not good, a little candy is good, but after awhile you can get burned out.”
He understands and loves his industry. Getting out to the bars and socializing is all part of building his business, and he wants his staff out there too, as long as they can answer the bell when it comes time for work.
“I tell my guys, I don’t care how late you stay out. If you can work the next day that’s fine with me,” says Tamura, who reserves his Friday and Saturday nights for research. “But if you stay out late and drink and can’t work the next day, then we have a problem.
“This is our business, we do what we love to do. In the business you gotta be out there. If your name is not out there, you got to build your brand so that when people hear the name Tamura’s they know what we are about.”
The other side of the business is the serving of these products, and Tamura originally looked at opening restaurants as well. But after his experience running a little drive-in, found he was better served dancing with who brought him.
“I found that it was so labor-intensive and I am only one person, that finally my father said, ‘you spread yourself too thin, you’re not going to be good at anything, you’ll be jack of all trades, master of none,’” says Tamura. “So I pulled back to focus on what I’m good at. Eventually, it’s always good to have a restaurant where I can hang my hat and say that’s my restaurant.”
But it is not all about the party with Tamura. Every year since 2001 they have held a golf tournament to raise money for Tamura’s Charitable Foundation. This organization looks to fill in the cracks in the public school system, buying up the rudimentary supplies like pens, pencils and papers and distributing them to the schools that need them.
Revolutionizing the wine industry in Hawaii and aiding in charity events has allowed Tamura to make a name for himself and not just be stuck behind the loving shadow of his father.
“I didn’t want to be known as Herbert’s son, I wanted to develop my own thing,” says Tamura, whose father still stops by all the stores to greet employees and check out operations. “So I started expanding it out, and he reminded me, ‘I don’t care how many stores you build. I am only going to help you and I’m not going to get back into the day-to-day.’
“He is still such a dad, though. Every day he still comes in and asks, ‘what are you doing about this?’ and I tell him, ‘I got it, Dad, when have I ever let you down?’ But he will always be that way. I’m sure I’ll be that way too.”
This concern for the business runs deep in the Tamura blood. Grandma Tsuruko, now 99 years old, still calls Herbert every day asking about the store.
“She’s still sharp as a pencil,” says Tamura of his matriarch.
Next up for Tamura? He would like to see a store serving every community on Oahu, and with the recent opening of the Kalaeloa location, Tamura feels it is time to start looking at Neighbor Island locations.
The business is not without its costs. Tamura works 12-plus hours, six days a week, often working so late that he actually had a queen-size bed put in his office so he can save time on going home. But for him, there is nothing else he would rather do.
“I’m married to the store; I love what I do,” says Tamura.
“A lot of guys come Sunday night are dreading work on Monday. Me, I can’t wait to get to work, try my new ideas, talk to my managers, see where we faltered and make the adjustments.
“People ask, ‘Why you still in the business? Why don’t you retire?’ Once you get into something you love, you can never retire. As long as I am having fun, as long as we are still moving forward, I’m not going to retire.”
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