Several Lahaina small businesses say it’s been impossible finding affordable rentals

LAHAINA (HawaiiNewsNow) – Several Maui small business owners affected by last year’s fires say more needs to be done to help them.

Many are still struggling to make ends meet, while some fear they will never be able to return.

“It’s a year now. There’s availability. There’s spaces, but they’re just not feasible for small business owners. It’s crazy. It’s a problem,” said Chyan LaPlant, General Manager of Pakaloha Bikinis on Maui.

Pakaloha Bikinis on Front Street was destroyed, along with the store’s warehouse at Emerald Plaza.

“I don’t know if it was a way to deal with the trauma, but after the fire, I was like, OK, what are we gonna do? How are we gonna keep going? And I was looking for spots before even processing. There’s nothing,” LaPlant said.

LaPlant is not alone.

“We’ve got some melons and tomatoes. That’s asparagus that kind of looks like pine trees in there,” said Moku Roots owner Alexa Caskey as she walks around her farm in Kula.

The farm off Waipoli Road once supplied her restaurant in Lahaina Gateway.

Before last year’s fires, she planned to move her farm-to-table, zero-waste eatery into the old Chart House off Front Street.

But that building was destroyed in the inferno.

“We tried to negotiate an extension,” Caskey said. “Obviously, our sales were way down from what they had been. They wanted more in rent, which obviously just wasn’t going to work.”

So Caskey was forced to close her restaurant and now only operates her farm which is 40 miles away from Lahaina.

Both Chyan and Alexa wish to return to Lahaina one day but fear they won’t be able to without the community’s help.

“To the extent that you can buy local produce, buy local, and support local businesses, that’s what’s going to help Maui recover,” Caskey said.

They hope everyone will come together to help find a solution.

“I’m down to rally. I just don’t have the means and brain power to organize, but I want to put the information out there that it’s a problem,” said LaPlant.

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