Now that the front of the June 27 lava flow has stalled for almost three weeks, stores in and around the Pahoa Marketplace are deciding to come back for business.
A spokesman for CVS/pharmacy, the parent company of Longs Drugs, says that the chain’s Pahoa location will open up again on Monday, Jan. 26.
“We look forward to resuming convenient service to our customers in Pahoa,” said spokesman Michael DeAngelis.”
Longs Drugs closed down on Dec. 20, when the flow was supposed to be mere days from affecting the neighboring Pahoa Marketplace. On the store’s closing date, the flow was 0.7 miles away from the Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road intersection.
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The currently-stalled flow front is still 660 yards from the back edge of the Pahoa Marketplace and half-a-mile from the Highway 130 and Pahoa Village Road intersection. It has shown no signs of activity.
Normal operating hours will resume when the store re-opens on Monday, with daily hours running from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The pharmacy will operate under those same hours on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The Longs Drugs store on Kilauea Avenue in Hilo began 24-hour service to compensate for the closing of the Pahoa location. DeAngelis said that those hours will continue until further notice.
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At least one other business has decided to re-open its business as the threat of lava impact on the Pahoa Marketplace diminishes. HouseMart, parent company of ACE Hawdware and Ben Franklin Crafts stores throughout Hawai’i, announced on Twitter that its Pahoa store will reopen next month.
HouseMart Ace Hardware Pahoa will reopen on February 1, 2015 after shutting down its operations on December 18,… http://t.co/gJgcQc4gYq
“Our main goal is to return and continue servicing the Pahoa community which has been so supportive and gracious to us since we opened in 2011. We feel a deep obligation to this community and look forward to serving the people here. Our employees, who accepted positions at our other locations, will return,” said Cory Chagami, Housemart Chief Operations Officer.
Pahoa Ace Hardware shut down its store on Dec. 18, two days before Longs Drugs closed down its Pahoa store.
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