ABC Stores founder Sidney Kosasa, 86

Kosasa was survived by his wife Minnie and children: Thomas Kosasa (Mi), Susan Kosasa, Gloria Gainsley (Steve), and Paul Kosasa (Lisa); grandchildren: Jonathan, Christian, and Lisa Gainsley, and Lindsay and Ian Kosasa.

Private services were held. No flowers. Condolences may be sent c/o ABC Stores, 766 Pohukaina St., Honolulu, Hawaii 96813. Donations may be made to one’s favorite charity.

Son of first generation Japanese immigrants, Kosasa and his wife, Minnie, opened a drug store in Kaimuki in December 1949. By 1959, they were operating a total of four drug stores on Oahu. They then started operating the pharmacies in three GEM Discount Department Stores. Kosasa learned the discount business while operating the pharmacy department at GEM. With his combined experience with grocery, drug store, and discount businesses, Kosasa launched his first of many ABC Stores in 1965.

Kosasa’s business is the ABC Stores; all-purpose convenience shops that cater to the tourist trade. In 1964, Kosasa attended the National Association of Chain Drugs Convention in Miami Beach, Florida. There, he observed the hustle ad bustle of tourists at the large hotels along Miami Beach. He saw potential for growth in tourist-related businesses and believed that one day, Waikiki would be as busy as Miami Beach. With this vision of Waikiki’s future, he returned home and began looking for locations to begin a new kind of enterprise. He found a 700 square foot on Kalakaua Avenue, where he sold discount drugs, health and beauty aids, and souvenir gifts, and sought to lure tourists, residents, and workers in Waikiki with a combination of convenience and price. This was the beginning of the ABC Stores in Waikiki. From this start, he built one of the state’s largest, most successful chains of retail food, drug and gift stores. Today, there are 55 ABC Stores in Hawaii and 8 in Guam, 2 in Saipan, and 6 in Las Vegas. His success is based on giving people what they want in stores that are easy to find with fair prices.

Kosasa said, “In this business, you go forward or backward–there’s no status quo.”

ABC Stores is currently improving product lines and store design as well as cultivating overall image. ABC’s parent company, MNS, Ltd., also owns Hawaiian Casuals gift shop in Waikiki. The latest store concept is at the Ala Moana center at center stage. Next year, ABC Stores will partner with big island chain, KTA Superstores, to introduce Island Gourmet Markets in Waikoloa.[I][B] (PR)[/B][/I]