Type Subsidiary Founded 1949 Parent organization PAQ, Inc. | Industry Retail Number of locations 25 | |
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Products Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks, liquor Headquarters Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States Profiles | ||
"Times Supermarkets" (full name Times Supermarkets, Ltd.) is an American supermarket chain, headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. Times operates 24 stores throughout the state of Hawaii, 17 using the "Times" banner, five operating under the Big Save brand on Kauai, one specialty food/liquor store under the Fujioka’s Wine Times name, and one location operating as "Shima's Supermarket" in Waimanalo, Hawaii. "A Supermarket With Everyday Low Prices" is their current slogan. It is also referred to by its customers as Times, rather than the full name.
History
Times Supermarkets was founded in 1949 by brothers Albert and Wallace Teruya, who were sons of Okinawan immigrants. The two opened its first store in Honolulu and began expanding statewide afterwards. Times is the second-largest supermarket chain in the state and the second oldest as well as it competes with another Honolulu-based supermarket chain Foodland, who is state's largest and oldest (it was founded in 1948, a year before Times began operations). It also has competition with Safeway, Costco, Don Quijote, and Wal-Mart.
In 2002, Times Supermarkets was sold by the Teruyas to PAQ, a Stockton, California based operator of Food 4 Less stores. After the Teruyas sold Times, they would later become owners of The Ilima Hotel in Honolulu.
In 2008, Times acquired Shima's Market in Waimānalo
In 2009 Times acquired another Honolulu-based supermarket chain, Star Markets, from the Fujieki family, giving them more locations in the Honolulu area, although it did sell 2 of Star's 7 stores to CVS Pharmacy (to convert into Long's Drugs) due to CVS wanting to block Walgreens from entering their respective markets. CVS/Longs Drugs has been acquiring as many locations as possible to slow Walgreens' expansion. Star was Honolulu's first supermarket chain, having started in 1940.
In 2011, Times bought the Big Save chain of supermarkets on Kauai from the Kawakami and Furugen families. As a result of this acquisition, five of the six Big Save locations were kept but one had to be closed due to a Times store located nearby.