{"id":1515,"date":"2026-06-18T07:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2026-06-18T07:34:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:34:27","slug":"kona-coffee-proving-popular-with-shoplifters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515","title":{"rendered":"Kona coffee proving popular — with shoplifters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – When you go to the store, you\u2019re no doubt seeing more items that are locked behind plexiglass.<\/p>\n

Read more City provides update on years-long Kuhio Beach Park bathroom closure<\/a><\/p>\n

Add bags of Kona coffee to that list.<\/p>\n

The coffee grown on the Kona slopes of Hawaii Island is prized for its bold yet smooth taste.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a part-time worker at a coffee company. And if they don\u2019t lock it up, they have a problem,\u201d said Mitchell Kimura.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Kimura said the problem has worsened in recent years as the price of Kona coffee has gone up.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee was maybe ten dollars a bag, and it wasn\u2019t that expensive, and it wasn\u2019t gotten stolen then. But now that it\u2019s at least 20 dollars or sometimes 30 dollars, it regularly gets taken from stores,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe merchants kind of leave it out there to entice people in, or to run sales or that sort of thing, and leave it unprotected,\u201d said retired Honolulu deputy police chief John McCarthy. \u201cWell, the crooks take advantage of this vulnerability.\u201d<\/p>\n

More retailers have been putting the valuable bags of Kona coffee beans and grounds in locked plexiglass cases — which often adds more to the cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the option to put it behind glass? Is it to have more staff? Is it to invest in more technology? All of those things cost money, and the retail community already works on a very, very thin margin,\u201d said Dave Erdman, the interim president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Read more Health department reports new travel-related dengue case on Oahu<\/a><\/p>\n

The experts say people aren\u2019t stealing the bags of Kona coffee for themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe motivator is always the next sale,\u201d said McCarthy. \u201cThey\u2019re taking it off the shelves completely free, so anything they sell it for is a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat bag goes to some other middleman and it goes to another person or another organization and it gets put on a shelf in a bar, it gets put in some other non-retail location,\u201d said Erdman.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Other items, including SPAM, macadamia nuts and expensive shampoos, have gone through this cycle. And the consequences for theft aren\u2019t stopping the thieves. Stealing less than $750 worth of merchandise is only a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve actually been in stores where I\u2019ve seen guys walk in and start loading it up,\u201d said McCarthy. \u201cThe clerk is yelling at them. You know they\u2019re going to steal it. And I talk to the clerk, I yell at the kid, and he goes, what are you going to do to me? The police aren\u2019t going to arrest me. The store\u2019s not going to prosecute me.\u201d<\/p>\n

So buyer beware, if that bag of Kona coffee is a lot less expensive than it should be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is cheap coffee being sold by people you don\u2019t know, maybe you should not buy it because maybe it\u2019s taken from somewhere,\u201d said Kimura. \u201cAnd if you buy it, you\u2019re just contributing to this perennial problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Hawaii Hotel & Restaurant Show returns to Blaisdell Center<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The increasing price has made the coffee in demand with those who steal the bags and then resell them, according to experts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nKona coffee proving popular - with shoplifters - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kona coffee proving popular - with shoplifters - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The increasing price has made the coffee in demand with those who steal the bags and then resell them, according to experts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-18T07:34:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Kona coffee proving popular — with shoplifters\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T07:34:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515\",\"name\":\"Kona coffee proving popular - with shoplifters - Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-18T07:34:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1515#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kona coffee proving popular — with shoplifters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kona coffee proving popular - with shoplifters - Hawaii Moving Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kona coffee proving popular - with shoplifters - Hawaii Moving Insider","og_description":"The increasing price has made the coffee in demand with those who steal the bags and then resell them, according to experts.","og_url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515","og_site_name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","article_published_time":"2026-06-18T07:34:27+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"headline":"Kona coffee proving popular — with shoplifters","datePublished":"2026-06-18T07:34:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515","name":"Kona coffee proving popular - with shoplifters - Hawaii Moving Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif","datePublished":"2026-06-18T07:34:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/38e0bde93aa9f31553aed01b35abf187.avif","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=1515#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kona coffee proving popular — with shoplifters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/","name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}