Historic Waiohinu mom-and-pop store vows to reopen after Hurricane Lala devastation

WAIʻŌHINU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A historic family-owned store that has served as a cornerstone of the Kaʻū community for nearly a century is working to rebuild after being devastated by Hurricane Lala.

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The Wong-Yuen store, which first opened its doors in 1935, sustained severe structural and inventory damage when floodwaters tore through the building.

After marrying into the family, Uncle Randolph Kai has been a part of Waiʻōhinu’s Wong-Yuen store for over 50 years.

“It’s more like a ma-and-pop store for everybody,” he said.

Flooding sweeps through historic shop

Kai was in the small shop the night Hurricane Lala brought a torrent of water right through it.

“The flood was getting stronger and stronger, so I couldn’t go home, so I slept in the back of my son’s house,” Kai said.

The force of the water left the store wrecked inside and out.

“It was so tremendous that it helped itself. It broke the door open, grabbed the chips on the bottom, and went out the back door,” co-owner Marshall Harvest said.

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Instead of serving customers, their days are now filled with cleaning appliances by hand, in hopes of bringing this store back to life with hard work and many helping hands.

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“A lot of people have been stopping by asking if we need help. We got guys drop off food, asking if we need anything which is awesome,” family member and co-owner Joseph Harvest added.

Forced to close for the time being and focus on the cleanup, the multi-generational family behind the business is also reflecting on the good memories they shared there.

“Every summer we would grow up in that house right across the street. Walk right across the street, buy candy, sodas. Go to the counter, charge it on grandma. Grandma said charge it!” Joseph Harvest said.

But the current state of the store is difficult to process.

“It’s kind of sad right now, but with the help from some of the people, I think we will get things done and get onto serving the people again you know. Hopefully in a couple months from now,” Kai said.

While their cleanup efforts will be ongoing for quite some time, they have a GoFundMe to help with repairs.

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