One after another after another, small businesses in Hawaii call it quits
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - An arcade on wheels won’t be rolling around Honolulu anymore.
“We want to say mahalo for all the memories over the years,” said Mobile Gamer Guys owner Kalani Miller.
Miller and his friends built a mobile arcade out of his garage 12 years ago — decked out with TVs, Xboxes and a Nintendo Wii.
Miller told his customers on social media this week he won’t be resuming operations.
“With COVID, we lost business from March through June – project grads, graduation parties, birthday parties, end of school year. We started getting a lot of cancellations because of the pandemic. Social distancing and ‘stay at home’ played a role in it,” Miller said.
In Waikiki, more shops are boarded up.
Bikeadelic Hawaii on Kuhio Avenue was once thriving bike rental business run by a husband and wife.
Owners Travis and Chelsie Counsell shut their doors for good this week.
“As you read the writing on the wall and you kind of realize that even when things do open back up, we’re not going to see the same level of tourists. We’re not going to see an as busy Waikiki. The numbers just weren’t panning out,” Travis said.
After two years in business, the Counsells are moving back to the East Coast.
“The pandemic has opened my eyes to how much we need to support local business and small businesses particularly,” said Travis. “Definitely when you can, go to the corner shop or the guy down the street or whatever it might be, it goes a long way.”
Others are doing more than just closing shop.
According to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, a total of 151 Hawaii residents and businesses filed for bankruptcy in June.
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