MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2018 WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM 75¢
PIECE OF KONA SAYS GOODBYE
Villegas Drysdale
KAILUA-KONA — Hawaii’s primary elections
were over as of today, but the race for Hawaii County
Council District 7 is far from the finish line.
Rebecca Villegas won the night Saturday in a
four-person, non-partisan race for the council position
vacated by Dru Kanuha, now the Democratic
nominee and substantial favorite to assume West
Hawaii’s 3rd District seat in the state Senate.
Villegas edged out her nearest competitor, Kelly
Drysdale, by a tally of 1,238 votes to 1,031 votes.
However, Villegas fell far short of claiming a 50
percent majority — as combined, more than 1,050
ballots were cast for competitors Bronsten Kossow
and Cynthia Nazara.
Still another 652 voters in the district who cast ballots
at their polling places Saturday left the choice for
the District 7 county council race blank.
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Standard protocol dictates a runoff come November
between the top two candidates, Villegas and
Drysdale, with potentially close to 2,000 votes left in
play to see who will represent a constituency spanning
portions of both North Kona and South Kona.
Drysdale, daughter of well-known Los Angeles
Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale, said her team took
the day off Sunday to rest and relax before delving
After nearly a century, that will be
no more.
Oshima Store, which grew and
adapted with the community for 92
years, will close its doors Sept. 15.
What’s next is yet to be seen, but
community members doubt it will
be what it’s been.
Building an identity
In the 1960s, the town boasted
a Ben Franklin 5-10, Hakoda’s
Builders Appliance and a bowling
alley, a sign for which still rises,
unlit, from the corrugated eaves of
its 70-year-old building.
Those who lived and worked there
were all in it together, establishing a
neighborhood’s identity.
“So it was a hub,” said Brian
Kimura, 64, who owns the fabric
store H. Kimura Inc. with his sister.
“Because down the street you had
Standard Bakery … and we had the
movie theater, the Aloha Theatre.”
Kimura and Oshima-Koseda
both recalled the days when Aloha
KAINALIU — There was a time
when Kainaliu was a center of Kona
life.
Going to town, back then, meant
dropping by Oshima Store, the
single-story market on what’s now
Hawaii Belt Road that in its earliest
years sold hand-cranked, homemade
ice cream by the cup. The
store was rebuilt from the ashes in
the late 1940s, and continued as an
anchor institution that served as a
pharmacy, tackle shop and community
center.
“We were kind of like the biggest
store in town, before all the big-boxes
came in,” said Corinne Oshima-
Koseda, owner of Oshima Store and
whose grandfather, Kanesaburo
Oshima, started the store in 1926.
“We were like, ‘the store.’”
More than just a place to stock
up on groceries, it served as a community’s
heartbeat. From families
buying groceries to kids stopping
by for a sugar snack after school, to
fishermen looking for the best tackle,
the business was the community.
“It was like a gathering place at
the beginning,” Oshima-Koseda
said. “A lot of customers would
come in and talk story.”
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INSIDE
ON 11
11
HOPE AND
HOME
A story of
transformation
and community
support
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HI 86 LO 76 WEATHER, PAGE 4A
VOL. 50, NO. 225 18 PAGES
Oshima store
to close after
92 years
BY CAMERON MICULKA
WEST HAWAII TODAY
cmiculka@westhawaiitoday.com
SEE OSHIMA PAGE 4A
Oshima Store is seen in this
1961 photo. KONA HISTORICAL
SOCIETY/COURTESY PHOTO
An Oshima Store ad appears
in a 1972 issue of West Hawaii Today.
Oshima Store, which has been
in business for more than 90
years, announced recently
that it will close next month.
CAMERON MICULKA/WEST HAWAII TODAY
Miles Nakahara, left, speaks with Brian Llanes
at Oshima Store on Tuesday. CAMERON MICULKA/WEST
HAWAII TODAY
Oshima
Store is
seen in
this 1950
photo. KONA
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY/
COURTESY
PHOTO
Runoff in Kona
DISTRICT 7 COUNCIL RACE TO BE DECIDED IN NOVEMBER
BY MAX DIBLE
WEST HAWAII TODAY
mdible@westhawaiitoday.com
SEE RUNOFF PAGE 3A
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