Every Store Has a Story: Glenwood’s Hirano Store
By Hadley Catalano
Every day, while working in her husband’s family store, Shinae Hirano would watch as her elderly father-in-law, Naojiro Hirano, picked up her eldest daughter at the store after primary school. Taking her by the hand, he would lead her across the street to his Japanese schoolhouse, where Naojiro would commence his afternoon Japanese class for his granddaughter and about 20 more local school children.
The time was the early 1960s, and the Hirano family was a permanent fixture along both sides of the old highway that divided Glenwood, a forested community just outside of Volcano village. On one side of the road sat the schoolhouse and on the other side, Hirano Store—the general store that Naojiro opened in 1917 with his wife, Shige. They had immigrated from their native Shizuoka, Japan, to work for the Ola‘a Sugar Company.
“My father-in-law first started working in the sugarcane fields, and later he was moved up to work in the plantation store,” said Shinae. “He would drive up and down the old highway when he worked for Ola‘a General Store. He knew the one-acre lot he wanted to buy in Glenwood to set up his own store. He put up a shack, without building permits or plans, put a sign on it that said ‘Hirano Store,’ and that was that.”
Shinae, who married the Hirano’s eldest son, Wataru, in 1949, laughs as she speaks about the simplicity of the times, explaining that her father-in-law’s business eventually grew and expanded from his opening-day shelf stock of three items: Shoyu, salt, and rice.
As one of the many convenience stores in the Puna district during the plantation heyday, Hirano Store soon distinguished itself from its competitors, becoming the spot for residents of Volcano, Mountain View, Glenwood and surrounding communities to purchase canned goods, kerosene, oil and other supplies. Soon the store—whose second story, like many family stores of the time, doubled as a home for the Hirano family—began offering patrons a filling station as well as a general retail store.
Naojiro’s true passion, in fact, was for teaching. While Shige worked in the store on the opposite side of the street, Naojiro spent his days teaching Japanese children of plantation workers their native language in the one-room school on land he had also purchased.
Unfortunately, both the family and the store endured some struggles during the earlier years. In 1924, Halema‘uma‘u Crater erupted at Kīlauea Volcano, depositing wet ash around the neighboring villages. The wet ash build-up on Hirano’s roof caused the eaves to collapse. Later, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, Naojiro Hirano was placed in an internment camp.
“They came in the middle of the night, broke into the house and took him away,” explained Eric Inouye, Shinae and Wataru’s nephew and current owner of Hirano Store, “because of his involvement with teaching Japanese at the school.”
Naojiro was released after the war, and he returned home to continue teaching at his beloved school.
During the early 1950s, shortly after Wataru and Shinae’s marriage, when Wataru was working at Torigoe Service Station in Kea’au, Shinae began working alongside her mother-in-law at their country mom-and-pop store.
“I did everything back then,” Shinae recalled, noting that she and her husband eventually took over the entire management of the store in 1955, when Naojiro and Shige retired. “And, until [Naojiro] passed away in 1962, he would come and meet my daughter Naomi at the store (where all the children were dropped off after school and would buy penny candy before Japanese lessons), and he would teach class for about an hour every day. It’s where our daughter’s foundation in the Japanese language and writing came from: her Grandpa Hirano.”
Shinae’s two daughters both eventually worked in the shop, helping out around the family business, standing on wooden box crates to reach the register. The seven-day-a-week schedule, with early mornings and long days, consumed most of the family’s time. They served a population of local famers who were in the lumber business selling ‘ōhi‘a firewood as well as commuters traveling to and from Ka‘ū and Hilo.
Inouye and his family would travel from Hilo to Glenwood in the early 1960s to visit the family. “I remember the store back then. Sold canned goods, rubber boots, sewing material—everything from radiator hoses to farming supplies like chicken feed,” said Inouye, describing the annual New Year’s Day trip to their relatives’ house, next door to the shop. (Naojiro and Shige still lived upstairs.) “It was a drive back then; the road wasn’t that good, and it took about 45 minutes to an hour.”
Then, in 1968, the County of Hawai‘i began to widen Māmalahoa Highway. The workers would come early and without breakfast. Soon the contractor, G.M. Tanaka, asked Shinae if she would make breakfast for his men.
“I started preparing breakfast and lunch. They didn’t have a place to eat,” said the store’s matriarch and first cook, who would have to rise at 3 a.m. to start preparing the rice. “I would buy these ham butts and make bacon and eggs with rice. For lunch the favorite was always pork shoyu, but I would also make sandwiches: ham and cheese, tuna, and then I would make my own ground beef with scraps of roast beef. That was my secret, no waste.”
During the course of the highway expansion, the Hirano Store had to be relocated, due to its inconvenient roadside position. The store was reconstructed on the family’s land, next door to its old location, where the present day store now stands. In addition, the County wanted to utilize some of the 17 acres of Hirano land across the street, including the land on which the schoolhouse sat.
“The Hiranos donated the land to the County under the condition that the County construct something for the children who would catch the school bus there,” Inouye described, indicating the park that now sits across the street. “The County constructed a bathroom and shelter for the children, because it rains so much.”
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Shinae and Wataru ran the family business, and Inouye, after high school graduation, went off to college and majored in business at University of Hawai‘i.
“One of my goals had always been to own my own business,” Inouye remembered, having worked for a number of years after college. “When I found out that my auntie and uncle wanted to retire, I was interested in buying the business.”
The Hiranos wanted to keep the business in the family, but warned their then-27-year-old nephew of the hard work that lay ahead. The young entrepreneur was up for the challenge, and in 1984 he bought the family store and has successfully been running the business for the past 28 years.
“My family was definitely happy that I took over the business,” Inouye said. “My auntie went back to get her degree. It was a lifelong dream of hers to go to college, since she worked at the store for so many years.”
In her late 50s, Mrs. Hirano enrolled at the University of Hawai‘i, Hilo, majored in Japanese Studies and graduated with a bachelor’s degree. She is now a board member of the UH-Hilo Alumni and Friends Association.
While his aunt pursued her dream of continuing her education, Inouye pursued his dream of successfully managing his own business. His first step was to rejuvenate the look and production of the store. He got rid of old items that were not selling and brought in newer products, rearranged the store, installed new refrigerator units, started selling propane for the many local residents that live off the grid, and he upgraded the hot, prepared-food menu for easy pick-up by morning commuters driving into Hilo.
“I wanted to increase what we offered for hot breakfast and lunch plates,” said the owner/chef who, like his aunt before him, now gets into the store about 3:15 a.m. for a 5:45 a.m. opening. “Menu items include hamburgers and French fries, daily specials like pork roast and beef stew, Spam musubi and breakfast sandwiches. Everything is made in-house. I cook everything.”
The owner-turned-accomplished-chef has two food items that have earned him statewide praise: his homemade chili and his ‘ōhelo berry jam.
“Chili is definitely the specialty,” Inouye smiled, showing off his autographed photo of Hawai’i celebrity Chef Alan Wong complete with a penned message; ‘Best chili I ever tasted.’ “I can tell you exactly what is in it, but it’s the way you put it together that makes the difference.”
Hirano’s Kapu’e’uhi Brand Ohelo Berry Jam, too, is a rare treat. The red berries, purchased from local pickers, are native to the Volcano area, and offer a uniquely flavored jam. Eric’s recipe is said to be one of the best, according to locals, mainlanders who have it shipped to them, and critics from publications such as Hana Hou magazine and the Honolulu Advertiser.
While good food will keep most people coming back, it’s the Hiranos’ and Inouye’s friendly attitude and personal touch that have helped the store reach 95 years in operation.
“I told Eric, ‘You don’t know what Auntie knows about what goes on in the forest,’” Shinae said about the store’s secret to success, and “never repeat what people tell you. You need to gain their trust, because without customers, no sense you be in business.’”
Taking care of their customers is what Shinae Hirano loved best, and misses. The work, she said, she doesn’t miss so much; it’s the customers and the interesting people she would meet (like Maria Shriver, Garry Moore, and Henry Kaiser, to name a few) that she would rather reminisce about.
Shinae and her nephew—to whom she is thankful for carrying on the family business—both possess the same lively energy. “He’s doing an excellent job. He’s got an outgoing personality and I’m so grateful to him,” said the grandmother of three.
The value of this almost-100-year-old business rests entirely on the shoulders of the hardworking family members that have put their heart and soul into the timeless, but endangered, beast known as the “family business.” While the old-timers come back and ask for Shinae and the new families express their gratitude that Hirano’s ideal location saves them a trip into town, the store itself holds more stories than meets the eye. It is because of the obstacles its owners have overcome and the true, entrepreneurial family spirit that have enabled Hirano Store to be filled with good food, stocked shelves, and to continue on as a true Hawai‘i Island legacy. ❖
Hirano Store is open weekdays 5:45 am–6 pm and weekends, 7 am–6 pm 808.968.6522.
Contact writer Hadley Catalano: hadleycatalano@gmail.com
