Martin & MacArthur Rocks
With the opening of its flagship and new concept store in Ward Centre, Martin & MacArthur is branching out, and CEO Michael Tam says it’s not just a koa furniture company, but a lifestyle company with a focus on furniture and furnishings made right here in the Islands. Michael Tam has a vision to make venerable Martin & MacArthur about much more than koa furniture. Say “fine koa furniture” and most local residents would think Martin & MacArthur.
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Michael Tam has a vision to make venerable Martin & MacArthur about much more than koa furniture
Say “fine koa furniture” and most local residents would think Martin & MacArthur.
Say “gracious Hawaiian living,” and if Michael Tam has done his job, folks also should associate it with Martin & MacArthur.
That’s because both Tam and a new flagship store at Ward Centre reflect the new face of Martin & MacArthur.
Some might react, “Auwe. Is this another kamaaina company making drastic changes and messing with my mind? Just when I’ve figured out who they are and what they do, they go and change.”
Curmudgeons might reject the notion and exclaim, “Tradition! Tradition!”
Tam responds, “Exactly. It’s all about tradition.”
Huh?
Gather around all ye who think this is some kind of marketing mumble jumble. It isn’t. It also isn’t just some kind of “business botox” for a mature company that’s been part of Hawaii’s retail landscape for 50 years.
This is about tapping into the soul of Hawaii and creating an industry out of it.
Sound lofty? Well, to Martin & MacArthur’s 51-year-old CEO, it’s very basic. What he has done to refocus and re-energize the company is something worth examining for some valuable lessons.
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During tough economic times, it’s intriguing to find brave souls like those at Martin & MacArthur who are bucking the trend of cowering to fragile consumerism. Rather than consolidating, downsizing or reinventing, they are expanding, creating new alliances and fortifying their identity with Hawaii more intensely than ever.
“Martin & MacArthur is not a koa company,” Tam declares. “It’s not a furniture company. It’s a lifestyle company.”
We could end the story right there. That says it all, in Tam’s view. But, like fine koa wood, there are more lines and textures to be explored.
Jon Martin started the company back in 1961, at a time when koa wood and koa furniture were under-valued and widely ignored, largely because of the popularity of cheap plastic and metal furniture from the Mainland. Martin started by creating a simple rocking chair, based on designs handed down through generations of Hawaiian missionary families.
He crafted a variety of lifestyle furniture with the strict adherence to old world quality standards. The result was four-poster beds, pedestal dining tables, roll-top desks, sofas, love seats, consoles, side tables, bureaus, dressers and elegant wooden trunks. Martin is still personally involved in selecting woods and crafting furniture every day at the Kalihi Kai showroom.
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Doug MacArthur, descendant of the American army general, became a partner. MacArthur’s business skills enabled the company to flourish in the 1960s and 1970s. By the mid-1980s, the enterprise took on a new partner, Lloyd Jones, who had a background in the Hawaii construction industry.
Maui-born Tam became majority owner and CEO in August 2008. The Saint Louis School and Northwestern University grad brought extensive executive experience, including Borders, Starbucks, Nordstrom, American Eagle Outfitters and McDonald’s.
“The company was looking for a partner to carry on the legacy and heritage of Martin & MacArthur,” Tam says. “They wanted someone with a reverence and respect for the company’s reputation who would capitalize on it and suggest imaginative ways to branch out.”
A year later, that’s exactly what Tam and his partner Simon McKenzie are doing. With a team of 75 employees, including 24 furniture craftsmen, the company now has four retail locations with plans for four more by the end of the year.
On Oahu, there are shops at Hyatt Regency Waikiki, Ala Moana Center and Ward Centre. Neighbor Island locations are The Shops at Wailea, Maui, and opening soon at St. Regis Princeville Hotel on Kauai, Whaler’s Village on Maui, and King’s Shops at Waikoloa on the Big Island.
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In total, it more than doubles the Hawaiian koa furniture maker’s retail presence in Hawaii.
The 2,600-square-foot location at Ward Centre (former SoHa space) next to Kakaako Kitchen is the flagship and new concept store.
“This store is a result of the company’s restructuring and refocusing,” Tam says proudly. “It represents new craftsmen, local artisans as well as a new design concept. It is a new look, too, from the stain we put on the concrete walls to lighting fixtures and ceiling fans.”
Rather than warm, dark-wood colors of older Martin & MacArthur storefronts, the Ward exterior is sunny maize with tapa print canopies.
What’s under roof is different, too.
Tam explains, “There is no other high-end specialty retailer that focuses on furniture and furnishings made in Hawaii. We still handcraft all of our koa furniture right here in Kalihi - not in Indonesia, China or the Philippines.
“We have eliminated 50 percent of outside vendors and have built relationships with Hawaii’s best artisans and craftsmen, who fortify our brand positioning,” he adds. “We now feature items such as handcrafted feather leis, koa shadow boxes, Hawaiian koa weapons with real shark’s teeth, handmade kapa, exquisite koa bowls and jewelry boxes - all made right here in Hawaii.”
In addition, Martin & MacArthur has added the Konia Collection - the largest collection of original images and documents of Hawaii’s past second only to the Bishop Museum. The collection includes more than 3,000
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